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Municipality in Jeddah to cover all open sewers

The Jeddah Municipality has instructed all its subdivisions to locate the uncovered sewers and find adequate solution to address the problem forthwith.

Responding to an official request from Makkah daily, the municipality has also requested a report to be submitted every three months on progress in fixing the problem.

The daily officially requested the Civil Defense and Jeddah Municipality to form an emergency committee to identify open sewers and drains across the governorate.

The municipality’s response comes in the wake of a number of cases of people dying after falling into exposed sewers around Jeddah.

There have been six victims so far including a child in the past year alone.  The municipality said that construction licenses would only be given to those meeting the specific design requirements for sewer covers, and that completion certificates would not be issued until installation of covers meets the municipality’s specifications.

An official at the municipality said that construction contractors violate cost and labor regulations as well as maintenance operations.

He explained that there is no penalty to hold violators accountable. He said that many contractors use low grade raw material, and that additional funds have to be used to repair the work.

He also said that a lack of coordination between the municipality’s contractors when carrying out important projects causes chaos.

“Some contractors delay or obstruct the flow of the municipality’s projects to work on their private ones, affecting the quality of construction work.” The official source stressed the need to have consultants in charge of the municipality’s projects.

These consultants must have the authority to penalize violators. “The real problem is the incompetence of many consultants,” the source said.