COUNCILLORS have once again demanded a proper sewerage network running through the Northern Governorate ahead of the rainy season.
Northern Municipal Councillors claimed that the number of available drainage tankers were unable to handle the demand for draining sewage across all 12 constituencies.
Popular neighbourhoods in the governorate such as Saar, Salmabad and Karranah are suffering with no proper sewerage networks as citizens submit requests for tankers to pump their drains.
Official Northern Municipality documents shared at the council revealed that the contracted sewage drainage company’s contract has been extended until December 2021 in preparation for a new tender.
Council’s financial, administrative and legislative committee chairwoman Zaina Jassim stated that an official request will be sent to Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf to increase the number of tankers while also providing emergency response tankers.
“After extensively reviewing the issue as a committee, we recommend that the new tankers be equipped to suction hard materials in addition to liquids while also ensuring a system is devised to measure the quantity released from the tanker and not just depend on the size of the tanker.
“An official letter is also being sent to the Northern Municipality to arrange with the company to adhere to specific appointments.”
Ms Jassim also stated that citizens must sign upon the completion of drainage, especially since the country has moved to the Green Alert Level earlier this month.
Northern Municipality cleanliness department head Redha Al Oraibi revealed that 3,000 requests were received by the department every month.
He highlighted that the department had 24 operational tankers each with the capacity to drain 5,000 gallons – and with different tank sizes at homes it is difficult to implement a unified system.
Meanwhile, technical committee chairman Abdullah Al Qubaisi stated that various alternatives have been proposed for this recurring issue by the council four times since 2019 with no effective solution implemented yet.
“This is a complicated issue that we have seen in our constituencies and it is not our duty to take in those complaints from the citizens,” said council chairman Ahmed Al Kooheji.
“We have been turned into a call centre receiving complaints round-the-clock and contacting the municipality to expedite the process.
“The Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry is doing its best but as a governorate we demand a full sewerage network developed in every single constituency.
“Drainage of sewage is an old system and we demand networks be constructed.”
The decision to refer the recommendations to Mr Khalaf was approved by the council who will also send an official letter to the Northern Municipality to further organise the mechanism.
Meanwhile, Mr Al Kooheji also revealed that a meeting will be held with the chairmen of both the Southern and Muharraq Municipal Councils in addition to the Capital Trustees Board with Mr Khalaf on Thursday to discuss prioritising the sewerage network.
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