Okaz /Saudi Gazette MAKKAH — Rain-bearing dark clouds are a welcome sign anywhere in the Kingdom and more so in the parched and barren wadi of the holy city of Makkah. But residents of the city's Sharaie District dread the moment dark clouds gather over their area. Residents here, already affected by the fragility of development projects and the absence of basic infrastructure, put their hands on their hearts for fear that rains would come and add to their misery. When it rains, the residents of this district are invariably entrapped in their homes and dare not come out because of the stagnant water swamps. Mohammed Al-Dhubyani, a resident, rains would make streets replete with swamps which would remain undrained for several days. "There is no permanent solution to this annual phenomenon especially on Street No. 64 which is the main road in the district," he said. Turki Al-Qurashi said the development projects which were implemented in the district were futile and asked the municipality to find a permanent solution to this problem. He was surprised by the municipality's negligence of Al-Sharaie which is considered one of the biggest districts in Makkah in view of its geographical area and the number of population. "Lack of the drainage projects has cost the government large financial losses as it has to reasphalt the roads every time there were rains," he said. Thamir Al-Otaibi proposed to set up a committee consisting of municipality and municipal council officials to work out plans for the construction of drainage projects. He said the promises of the previous municipal councils to end the problem were not fulfilled. He also said the municipality's efforts to drain rainwater were limited to pulling out the water using pumping tankers which were useless and called for establishing a drainage system instead of the futile temporary sedatives.
