Water Company passes the buck JEDDAH – The National Water Company (NWC) has denied any responsibility for the loss of life and damage to property caused by last month's Jeddah floods saying that its work “only concerned the raw sewage water drainage network.” “The NWC has nothing to do with the floodwater drainage system. This is the sole responsibility of the Jeddah Mayoralty,” a company official said. “They are also responsible for pumping out sewage water from areas where no drainage network has yet been installed.” According to Abdullah Al-Assaf, head of the NWC's Jeddah office, sewer drain works currently being undertaken in Jeddah are worth SR7 billion. “About 95 percent of the major sewage projects and 56 percent of minor works are finished,” Al-Assaf said. The whole system is due to be completed in 2011. “The sewage drainage network is designed to accommodate home-use and not rains and floods. The system is well-installed and will not suffer leakages via manholes,” he said. “Since the flood disaster hit the city, the NWC has assisted the Mayor's Office in tackling flooded streets and blocked pipes. The company has also supplied 3,250 water tankers to pump water from streets, and divers to search for missing persons,” Al-Assaf said. “We have also helped repair street cavities caused by heavy rainfall.” Al-Assaf added that over 170 water tankers had been drafted in to supply drinking water to flood-hit areas. “When it took over Jeddah's sewage drain projects a few years ago, the NWC terminated contracts with slow-paced companies and paid out more money for companies to execute the projects in accordance with the previously-set deadlines,” Al-Assaf said. Shoura investigates, seeks Anti-Corruption Commission The Shoura Council, meanwhile, is looking into the causes of the Jeddah flood disaster, which left, at the last count, 121 people dead. “Shoura Council members have been asked to give their views on the disaster and propose solutions,” said Abdullah Al-Dossari, a member of the Council's Financial Committee. The Council will submit its final report to the King. Al-Dossari declined to single out individuals or authorities over the disaster, but said that the Council would re-intensify calls for the creation of the Anti-Corruption Commission, noting that the Council had previously received approval for what he described as a “strategy of honesty and combative will against corruption”. “The strategy requires executive powers in place in terms of putting rules into effect and institutionalizing punishments for corruption through the judicial framework of the country,” Al-Dossari said. Al-Dossari described the Shoura Council as “taking the issue of corruption seriously, especially when it comes to people's lives as has been seen in the poor planning of cities”.
