JEDDAH: The Saudi Electricity Company, National Water Company and the country’s telecommunication firms are to blame for the deterioration of the city’s roads because of poor workmanship.

This is the conclusion of a study conducted by a specialized foreign company commissioned by the Jeddah Secretariat into the poor state of the city’s roads, a local publication reported recently.

The study found 4,000 violations committed by electricity contractors, 1,400 by water and sewer contractors, and 800 by drilling contractors of the telecommunication companies, the publication reported.

The study blamed the contractors for not complying with the quality requirements for drilling, and not providing quality assurance advisers for the projects. The study proposed several solutions to reduce damage to the asphalt and the creation of holes, including strict penalties.

The study found that 40 percent of the problems were related to poor quality work, 40 percent administrative issues, and 20 percent from lack of safety and security measures.

The study proposed that the best solution for all these problems would be to ensure that all public services and utilities are provided in tunnels under the city, with roads and streets then completely re-asphalted.

Mohammad Al-Buqami, spokesman of the Jeddah secretariat, said that the municipality was not to blame for the major problems on the city’s streets. There was a lack of maintenance of infrastructure providing electricity, water, sanitation, communications, drainage and flood prevention networks, he said.

The other reasons are repeated drilling operations on the streets and the lack of clear plans for extending public services to all service providers, he said.