Residents of Samir District, east of Jeddah, have vented their anger on municipal officials over poor service delivery – particularly over the danger posed by the nearby Misk Lake and sewage pipelines being built above the ground through their neighborhood. During a meeting with officials from the Jeddah Municipal Council and representatives from the Mayor's Office on Monday night, residents called on the council to be more effective in providing proper services. They said that the Jeddah mayoralty had failed the city during the November floods. The residents said that the sewage lake still poses a danger to the entire city, not only to their district, which is only a few kilometers away. Residents claim that they are not only getting foul smells from the sewage lake, but also from the medical waste factory close to the district. The factory spews out the fumes of blood and chemicals. “Both places need to be removed,” a resident said. The factory has been operating illegally for years now despite frequent complaints to the Mayoralty, residents claimed. A member of the Municipal Council said that they would forward the residents' complaints about the factory to the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs for immediate action to safeguard the health of people. “You should leave this place immediately if you can't help us,” an angry resident shouted at the municipal officials in response. Adel Memesh, Director of the Water Department at the Jeddah Mayoralty, who tried to calm residents down, said that the water level at the sewage lake has decreased by 40 cm. However, the official was shouted down by the people present at the meeting. Memesh, however, continued telling the residents that Misk Lake does not pose any threat to the district and sewage tankers are prohibited from dumping their cargo into the lake. This statement was met with contempt by many residents inside the hall. “The sewage tankers you see going through the district every day dump their cargo at the water reclamation plant, not the lake,” said Basam Akhdr, a member of the Municipal Council. November's floods have uncovered the magnitude of corruption in municipal affairs, said Soleiman Al-Mua'lem, a district council member. “The infrastructure of Samir district is way below zero,” he said. Even the only entrance to the district of 300,000 people, is on a riverbed, he said.
