KUWAIT: A before and after image taken of one of the potholes in Salmiya block 3 that is now fixed.

KUWAIT: After
most of Kuwait's roads were damaged due to heavy rains in November, some of
them have been repaired, while others haven't. The ministry of public works,
which is in charge of maintaining the roads, is currently repaving main
highways and roads, but many smaller roads are still damaged.

The ministry
announced a hotline number after the floods so people can report serious
damages to roads. But it seems that there is inconsistency in dealing with
complaints, depending on the area. Kuwait Times reported a damaged road in
Salwa, and it was fixed in about 10 days. A social media influencer also showed
a very quick response to his complaint, with the road repaired in just one day.

Kuwait Times
visited Salmiya and Jleeb and found huge potholes in some streets, which can be
very dangerous for motorists, especially at night. For some reason the hotline
was not working, so Kuwait Times posted the complaint on the official webpage
of the ministry of public works. And to make sure the officials in charge at
the ministry deal with the complaint, the complaint was also posted on the
WhatsApp number of the ministry with the full address of the locations and
pictures taken by Kuwait Times.

Three locations
of damaged roads were sent - two in Salmiya and one in Jleeb. The staff
operating the WhatsApp emergency number responded after about two hours and
wrote "the complaint was passed to the department in charge, which will
deal with it soon". The complaints were sent on March 12, 2019, and till
date, only one of the locations has been fixed, in Salmiya's block 3. The
others in Salmiya's block 10 and Jleeb still haven't been repaired.

By Nawara
Fattahova