A leading private sector businessman has accused the Mayoralty of failing to take action to prevent the floods which hit parts of the city two weeks ago and for being more concerned about other less serious matters. Abdullah Sa'ad Al-Ahmari, the Vice-Chairman of the Real Estate Committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), said the Mayoralty had failed in its main task of carrying out effective city planning and infrastructure development. He said his committee could not be blamed because the Mayoralty did not want to consult with the private sector on any developments. His accusations have been rejected by the Mayoralty and other government departments. “The Mayoralty relinquished its basic responsibility by focusing on (the building and development of) shops, market control, furnished apartments, malls, real estate agencies and the issuing of permits for investment offices and pharmacies,” said Al-Ahmari. He said the geography of Jeddah was similar to Venice in Italy, which has a group of archipelagos sitting between the land and sea. Jeddah needed expertise to protect it from the rains and floods. He said the city was suffering from what he called the problem of “inside contractors”. This was a situation where a tender was awarded to a major company, but this company would in turn give the work to an “inside contractor” at a lower price. This meant that the real work was carried out by an inexperienced and unclassified contractor. An unclassified contractor is a company that does not have the necessary engineering expertise. Al-Ahmari said he did not rule out the possibility that the King Abdullah underpass project was carried out in this fashion. He said that the underpass had been built over a period of four years and was closed to traffic during that time. In the two years since it has been completed, it has not been tested by any heavy rainfall. The recent floods revealed that it was built with no drainage channels. He said the Mayoralty and its planners, including the Traffic Police and Transport authority, had clearly not completed it according to the required engineering specifications. Al-Ahmari said the city was located between two mountains with rainwater flowing from the east toward the west and it needed “highly-efficient buffers to protect it from floods.” Asked about the apparent failure of the JCCI's Real Estate Committee to warn the authorities about the residential developments in the valleys, Al-Ahmari said the JCCI Committee could not be blamed for any wrongdoing. “[The committee] is only 12 years old and when it was created the plans were already established. In addition, the Mayoralty does not ask for the private sector's assistance except for requesting formal studies.” He said the Mayoralty does not coordinate its action with any relevant body, nor does it accept advice or pay attention to the private sector's expertise, “and when a disaster occurs, it comes out with confused statements and justifications.” Al-Ahmari also criticized the city's Municipal Council, describing it as a “noise phenomenon” because it has no efficient role and is unable to intervene in municipalities' decisions or monitor performance. The director of the Jeddah Traffic Police, Brig. Muhammad Al-Qahtani, said his department had nothing to do with the specifications of the underpass. The committee that is headed by the Mayor and consists of members of the Mayoralty, Traffic Police and the Ministry of Transport consults his department as a traffic organizing body only, he said. He said the route that connects the city's east and west was closed for three days after the rains and was opened on the fourth day after the Mayoralty had the water pumped out. A source at the Mayoralty said the underpass was equipped with two pumps, each with the ability to pump out 2,500 cubic meters of water per hour. But the floods coming from Al-Madina Road, Al-Sharafiya District and other neighboring areas reached 70,000 cubic meters in ten hours, or 7,500 cubic meters an hour, said the source.
