UNTIL the ongoing development projects of roads, bridges and underpasses are completed, Jeddah residents will have to be patient. But for how long? Nobody knows. You have waited for a long time and now you will have to be patient a little more until these projects are completed. This is what the officials in charge of these projects have been telling us. We listened to them for long without anything happening. The situation has become unbearable now and has become beyond the ability of residents to cope with. Jeddah has become a semi-paralyzed city for most of the time. The officials are just spectators to what is going on. No one has made any effort to infuse life in the city or pump blood into its veins. The traffic congestion in Jeddah created by the unfinished projects has suffocated its residents. The residents, who are in a great dilemma because of the traffic jams, are virtually on the brink of complete nervous breakdowns. Had it not been for God's providence, catastrophes would have become a daily scene in the streets of the city. People used to be patient because they had hopes that the projects of roads and bridges would finish on time. There were signboards posted on each project indicating the number of days left for it to finish. All of a sudden these billboards disappeared. The projects started to yawn and finally went into a deep slumber. They are all snoring now. Many months have passed and there was nothing new. The projects remained unfinished. There were no explanations by the officials why these projects had become protracted and no apologies for the inconveniences caused to residents. Driving on the streets of Jeddah has become a real agony. The traffic has become a total mess. You will see the sedans, trucks, water tankers and trailers crawling slowly or colliding with each other. The taxis add more madness to the traffic. Despite the congestion, they try to overtake cars ahead of them though there may not be enough space for this. During this maddening scene, you look here and there in the hope of seeing a traffic policeman to stop the mess and organize traffic but you will see none. The traffic policemen in Jeddah are practically absent even during the peak hours. If ever an officer is present, he will be parked at one of the exits doing nothing to help. There are no traffic policemen to control the traffic movement at the major intersections or nab traffic violators who have exacerbated the chaos on the streets. We do not know when these projects will be completed. So I suggest giving all residents of Jeddah an open vacation to remain at their homes or migrate out of the city until the projects are completed.
