Many residents of the Saudi Jeddah Governorate Municipality expressed anger after hearing a statement from a government official about the conditions in the governorate. They accused the official of lying and being dishonest about the difficult reality they live in.
In an interview, the Saudi official introduced the “Photograph and Send” campaign, in which locals participated by taking pictures of the city's problems, such as insect populations, holes, water holes, and trash heaps.
The official in charge of the secretariat and municipalities of the 16-municipality Jeddah Governorate was expecting photos depicting his imagination and making the country appear at its most ideal. But he received thousands of photos depicting the governorate's deteriorating conditions in the 16 municipalities.
Dear customer
As the governorate's secretariat began to take shape, the word “Dear Customer” became the standard for handling citizen complaints in the municipal communication service. Some residents objected, arguing that since they are the owners of the land and not the customers of the municipalities, it is better to call them “Dear Citizen.”
Locals’ suffering in different neighbourhoods
The declining state of many of the governorate's areas and neighbourhoods has drawn complaints from some Jeddah Municipality residents. Particularly in the neighbourhoods of Al-Hamdan and Al-Hamdaniya, there are numerous unpaved roads, broken side walks, and an unresolved sewage flow and leakage crisis.
Residents in Northern Obhur have complained about rainwater and heavy downpours that trap them for hours or even days, as well as dirty, unpaved, and dark streets. Additionally, they affirmed that the Jeddah Municipality experiences a deficiency of observers for field visits to the development sites mentioned by the official.
Concerns regarding the groundwater flow crisis, which could potentially affect homes and buildings and cause them to collapse, were also voiced by residents of Manha No. 2, a neighborhood in Salhiya. However, their complaints went unanswered.
According to those affected, the streets were also impacted; some of them experienced increased subsidence; additionally, the spread of insects and mosquitoes was attributed to the sewage-mixed groundwater.
For the past five years, potholes and groundwater have been a problem for the residents of Abraq Al-Rughama Street in the governorate's southeast.
As for those in the Al-Fardous neighbourhood in North Obhur, next to the health centre, they suffer from visual pollution.
The Jeddah Municipality official's remarks startled him more than the locals did because he realized that the stunning scene he described was merely a fantasy shared by himself and the other officials in the municipality. However, theactual situation is quite different.
