Heavy rains sweep roads [Archives:2005/838/Local News]
Hassan Al-Zaidi
Heavy rains that fell on different parts of Yemen last week swept and damaged the main highways as well as the newly built ones which connect the main cities.
Due to the heavy rainfall, a child drowned to death in torrential currents in Bani Hishaish District, 70 km east of Sana'a.
Eyewitnesses told the Yemen Times that strong torrents destroyed nearly 30-40 km of a tarmac-covered road connecting Sana'a and Bani Hishaish. The torrents caused some traffic accidents, blocked roads and tore down electrical wires.
In addition, torrents swept away approximately ten pipes and water drains in the Marib-Sana'a highway.
Factors behind such damages can be ascribable to the lack of competence in the process of construction and road designs as well as many other incompetent measures in filling up road bases.
” Granting renders to inexperienced contractors is the main reason behind such ruins, particularly as renders of building supportive walls are usually granted to locals of the areas where roads pass through,” one of the contractors specialized in road construction said. ” These people lack the necessary experience and therefore neither supervision nor monitoring by the concerned governmental bodies are seen. Negligence and carelessness resulting in such ruins thought to be a shame upon contractors and the concerned authorities.”
Another person noted that mistakes and errors in the designs and constructions of roads are shared by both the government and contractors. Low financial allocations by road construction authorities also make contractors careless about what they do.
All these roads randomly built constitute a major threat against citizens' lives fall as victims from day to day, and what is more miserable is that road construction is financed by debts upon Yemen.
Heavy rains on Tuesday April 27 in Hodeida Governorate led to partial collapse of Wadi Moor's Dam. The collapse of the dam blocked roads and obstructed traffic on the highway connecting Hodeida and Haradh.
The Hodeida Governor, Mohammad Saleh Shamsan, paid a visit to the affected area and ordered the parties concerned to remove all debri from the road and undertake the necessary repairs.
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