Utilities ‘Violating Drilling Regulations’

The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) Committed 64.5 Percent of Drilling Violations while the Saudi Water Company (SWC) Committed 22.5 Percent

The reports showed that the municipality's services projects committed more than 6,200 violations, Makkah daily reported.

The SEC committed 4,000 of the violations, SWC committed 1,400 and the Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) 800.

A source from the municipality reported that 12,000 drilling requests were approved by the municipality last year.

The SWC had 1,500 approvals, SEC had 8,700 and STC had 1,800.

He added that 20 percent of the violations were related to safety and security, 40 percent were related to quality and the rest were related to administrative violations.

Jeddah Mayor Hani Aburas said the drillings and open manholes have proven problematic for drivers and pedestrians on the streets.

He said: "The issue needs to be controlled and regulated and fixed deadlines need to be assigned to Jeddah development projects.

"That way, contractors and service companies will have a clear timeline to adhere to."

SWC head Mohammad Al-Zahrani said the company had not committed any violation as all of its drillings were legally approved and documented through a contract between the company and the contractors.

He said: "The contractor is the one responsible for cleaning up after a planned drilling and making sure that the streets are in safe conditions, not the service company.

"There are companies specialized in cleaning up drilling works, so it is not the responsibility of the SWC.

"In any case, safety and quality assurance violations are not high and the development projects are not threatening anyone."

A manager from the SEC said last year the company ran a field inspection campaign on 6,000 drilling projects it had carried out over the last two years.

Of these schemes, 5 percent were led by contractors that failed to complete the work on time.

The SEC contracts with quality assurance consultancy companies to ensure all of its projects and drilling work adhere to the municipality's regulations.

Quality assurance consultancy companies claimed there were many obstacles that stand in the way of Jeddah's development projects being completed on time.

Source: Saudi Gazette

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