HIBAPRESS – Ahmed Al-Musaed
In a scene that summarizes the reality of infrastructure in the city of the millennium, activists on social media circulated photos of a citizen in the city of Oujda who, with individual effort and simple means, was patching a deep hole at the intersection of one of the major streets in the city.
The citizen, who appears from the photos to be tired of waiting for the "competent authorities", used cement and some gravel to close a gap that posed a serious danger to the safety of drivers and motorcyclists, especially at a vital road intersection that witnesses constant traffic throughout the day. This step, although it seems simple from a technical point of view, carries with it veiled protest messages towards what the residents describe as "inertia and procrastination" in repairing the defects that affect the main and secondary road axes in the city. This initiative received a great response from the people of Oujda, where opinions were divided between those who praised the initiative: who considered the step an expression of "true citizenship" and concern for the beauty and safety of the city; and those who criticized the municipal council: who poured their anger on the responsible parties, considering that the citizen's resort to repairing the holes with cement is a "management scandal" that questions maintenance budgets and urban rehabilitation programs. "It is not the citizen's job to patch the streets, but when the official is absent, cement becomes the only solution to protect our property and our lives from these road traps," commented a citizen on the "Facebook" platform. Several streets in the city of Oujda suffer from the spread of potholes and the deterioration of the asphalt layer, which causes the displeasure of vehicle owners who incur huge financial losses in repairing their car breakdowns. Activists see this individual initiative as a "wake-up call" that should prompt the competent authorities to take urgent action before the situation worsens with the coinciding periods of rainfall.
