JEDDAH: Residents of Jeddah's Wadi Qus district who were served with eviction notices have urged the city's municipality to give them more time to find alternative accommodation, at least until compensation is paid to them.
Expressing dismay over the municipality's move, the residents who are located east of the Haramain Expressway said they have not been given enough time to find suitable alternative accommodation, Al-Madinah Arabic daily reported.
The municipality served eviction notices to the residents last Saturday. They have been asked to evict their homes by Wednesday.
The evictions are necessary so a dam to help combat floods in Jeddah can be built. Wadi Qus lies in an area where a reservoir is to be built.
Speaking to the newspaper, a number of residents in Wadi Qus said they were in favor of the project. "But we want more time so we receive compensation as well as find alternative homes. After this, they can evict us," said one of the resident, who spoke anonymously.
He said that it was a big surprise for local residents when municipality officials came to serve the eviction notices.
"We had been asked to contact the municipality within a few months. But since then, there has been no follow up work nor distribution of compensation," he said, adding construction work for the project has been ongoing for more than six months.
"The officials had earlier assured us that we would face no eviction until disbursement of compensation. We have been since then in contact with many departments and agencies frequently," said local resident Saleh Al-Zabali.
"However, each agency kept passing the buck and now they are asking us to leave the place within four days," said his friend Ibrahim Al-Arwi.
Saad Al-Zahrani, another resident, said authorities had not taken any steps to distribute compensation to enable them to find alternative housing.
"Now, we are shocked to receive eviction notices without any warning," he said.
Fellow resident Abdullah Al-Ghamdi accused authorities of reneging on an earlier promise.
"When we met authorities we were told to stay in our houses and wait for satisfactory compensation. While we were waiting for the compensation, we were shocked to receive this notice," he said.
The Jeddah Municipality said the Ummu Salam branch municipality is dealing with the issues concerning Wadi Qus as it comes under its jurisdiction. However, several residents claimed that when they approached the branch municipality, they were asked to approach the main municipality instead.
Director of public relations at the Jeddah Municipality Magdi Fuad said the authority was not responsible for resolving the matter, adding it was the responsibility of the executive committee proposing solutions to avoid future floods in Jeddah, which came under the supervision of the Makkah governorate.
Zuhair Nawab, director of the Saudi Geological Survey Commission, said some residents had approached the commission in a bid to convince officials that the site was not ideal for a dam and that their houses faced no danger from flash floods.
"The commission drew their attention to studies carried out earlier about valleys vulnerable to flooding in Jeddah, and Wadi Qus is among them," he said.
"We have chosen proper sites for the construction of dams on the basis of in-depth engineering and geological studies. We have also provided the concerned authorities with specifications that should be complied with when implementing the projects."
He added the commission could not be held responsible in case these specifications and standards were not adhered to.
Muhammad Marie, field supervisor for the dam project, said the project is vital as far as the safety of local residents is concerned.
"The construction works are underway, and the concrete casting for the dam is 10-meters deep," he said, reiterating there was no move to halt implementation of the project.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah had earlier given extensive powers to the executive committee to conduct necessary studies and award contracts to develop quick solutions to minimize the effects of future Jeddah floods.
The committee had identified emergency solutions to be implemented within six months and long-term solutions to be implemented in three years.
More than 130 people died and thousands more suffered huge losses in the two floods that took Jeddah by surprise between November 2009 and January 2011.
© Arab News 2011
