Complain about poor service in government-held areas in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – Ramy al-Abdullah, 42, a resident of al-Muwazafin neighborhood in the city of Deir ez-Zor city, which is run by the Syrian government, removed debris and rubble of the street opposite to his house at his own expense, which cost 80,000 Syrian pounds (SYP), since the government has not done that.
The story of al-Abdullah represents hundreds of stories of residents of Deir ez-Zor city, represented by the deterioration of the service situation and the failure of the government municipality to carry out their duties towards residential neighborhoods since the complete control of it at the end of 2017.
Poor service situation
Since the control of the Syrian government, the service sector, which is considered one of the basics of the city, has been witnessing deterioration and neglect after the destruction the city’s residential buildings and infrastructure with an estimated rate of 60%.
Recently, residents of the city resort to maintenance of some water and sewage networks and to remove rubble at their own expense due to the failure of the government’s municipality to carry out its duty.
Ahmad al-Dahmoush, a resident of al-Ardi neighborhood, and his neighbors, rehabilitated the sewage network in their neighborhood at their own expense after their suffering from cracks in the sewage pipes worsened during the past month.
The cost of rehabilitating the network reached 350,000 SYP, and the amount was divided among the residents of the neighborhood, according to al-Dahmoush.
Removing rubble
The residents’ failure to return to Deir ez-Zor is due to the effects of the devastation that has dominated the scene until now.
Workshops owning special machinery spread in the city that work to remove rubble in light of the increasing activity of the population in the process of servicing their residential neighborhoods at their own expense, especially those who have recently returned to their homes from displacement in other cities due to the deterioration of the living and economic situation.
Sami al-Ahmad, a worker from Deir ez-Zor city, said, each truck of rubble costs 80,000 SYP.
Rehabilitating one street in the city requires at least three to four trucks, according to al-Ahmad.
The work of removing rubble is witnessing a great turnout from the residents of Deir ez-Zor city, due to the Syrian government’s negligence and lack of attention to the matter.
Service departments of Deir ez-Zor governorate pay attention to fully populated neighborhoods such as al-Joura, al-Qusour and Harabish in the first place, and the rest of the residential neighborhoods in the city are ranked second.
Qaysar al-Hammad, an employee at Deir ez-Zor municipality, said, the lack of resources in the local administration in Deir ez-Zor pushes the municipality and all government departments to give priority to populated residential neighborhoods.
“The municipality suffers from a severe shortage in the number of machineries amid the absence of support from the municipalities of other governorates, despite the fact that Deir ez-Zor municipality has submitted a request to the ministries since March,” he added.
In November 2017, the Syrian government forces took control of the city of Deir ez-Zor from the grip of the Islamic State (ISIS) in a military operation with Russian support.