Solaimaniya District of east Jeddah have voiced renewed complaints after a seven-year hold up in sewer and drainage works led to rainwater flooding the area last week. The Mayor's Office says that the works are being conducted by an international company and are part of a package of infrastructure projects, but locals say that last week floodwater rose as high as four meters, up to the first floors of some homes. “The delay in the works had gone on for over seven years,” said one local resident. “The repeated rains over the last few years have caused us material losses when water has entered houses and damaged furniture, electrical appliances and other property, as well as the interior and exterior walls of the houses.” Locals say they have lodged numerous official complaints to the Jeddah mayoralty. An official source admitted that the sewer works had not been finished. “They're part of a package of large sewer projects in Jeddah, and the entire plans have to be finished before they can all be put into operation,” he said. “The sewer networks are directed from districts and streets to a treatment point and then to the sea, and not all of them have been completed to link them up to the treatment point.”
