Jeddah, December 31: Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah region, said that a quick collection of information about government officials believed to be involved in the flood disaster through his investigation committee has helped the committee to make prompt decisions.
The Prince was speaking during his tour of flood-affected areas in Jeddah Wednesday.
Many government officials and non-government officials have been detained pending the investigation, he said. Some of the arrested officials had “big files” of violations and had been under surveillance even before the flood tragedy.
However, some have been cleared up, he added, “and the number of arrested officials may increase if the investigation need arises.”
The monitoring and control over government projects would be tighter, Prince Khaled said.
Illegal use of government land would not be permitted “whatever the circumstances may be,” he added.
Prince Khaled’s tour, his second since the floods hit Jeddah last month, of the districts of Al-Jamia’a (University), Kilo11, Al-Muntazahat, Al-Sawaed, Quwaizah, and Al-Samir allowed him to hear first-hand testimonies and concerns of the residents, to which he vowed quick solutions.
The investigation committee was still at the beginning of its work gathering information which would be carefully studied before presenting the case to leadership, he said.
When asked to identify arrested individuals or the departments in which they were employed, Prince Khaled said “There is no need to go public. You know the names,” declining to pin down specific government departments responsible for the tragedy.
The Prince described government solutions after the floods as “fast but temporarily designed to counter possible floods in the future.” But the Prince was unsure about what would happen if stronger floods hit the city.
“There is no radical solution as of now as we are still at the stage of looking into previously stalled project studies on flood threats,” he said.
That radical solution to the area east of Al-Haramain Highway would, however, have to address unplanned zones and land encroachments, according to the Emir.
“Planning of the whole area needs to be re-evaluated, and a serious and well thought-out plan needs to be drawn up,” he said. “The radical solution lies in a thorough study of the east of Jeddah in tandem with the city’s master plan. We also need a swift and precise execution of the sewage project that is currently being carried out under tight scrutiny.”
“All difficulties hindering the planned projects will be removed,” Prince Khaled said.
Following the King’s order of investigating the flood disaster to determine individuals responsible for it, the performance of government offices has quite improved, he said.
A decision has not yet been made on whether to remove buildings in flood routes. “The picture will be clearer when a study on this has been completed,” he said. “The government is working now to clean up the mess of previous mistakes and that takes a long time,” Prince Khaled added. The blood money compensation of SR1 million for each flood victim will be paid out soon to the families. “We are communicating with the Ministry of Finance to pay out the families as soon as possible,” he said.
Prince Khaled took time during his tour to listen to the public. “It is an honor to serve you and this is the instruction of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” he told one of the residents.
A Quwaizah resident complained to the Prince that the residents had not seen the cleaning trucks for days before his visit. But he was assured by Prince Khaled. “Clean-up operations will be scheduled here from now on,” Prince Khaled replied.
Ali Al-Qahtani, resident of east Jeddah, complained that there were no good entry roads to their districts, to which the Prince agreed. “This is wrong and we are working to come up with a better planning for east Jeddah,” he said.
“I have been tasked by the leadership to work on your complaints and correct all previous mistakes. A new planning of east Jeddah districts will be announced once it has been approved by the leadership,” he added.
The presence of the Civil Defense Department and Jeddah Mayoralty vanished from the eastern district when the Prince completed his tour.
Residents said that they were tempted to clean the premises of their houses for some money ahead of the Emir’s visit.
Before the Prince’s visit, there was a heavy presence of government personnel with their rescue and cleaning machines; something that was swept away by “unseen floods,” said Saad Al-Juhani, a Quwaizah resident. “We have become a neglected district,” he said, as he remembered his ordeal during Black Wednesday when he spent over 18 hours waiting for Civil Defense rescue teams. Okaz/SG
The Emir of Makkah was accompanied on his tour by the Governor of Jeddah Prince Mish’al Bin Majed, the Mayor of Jeddah Adel Faqih, and the head of Civil Defense Saad Al-Tuweijri.
–Agencies