Warning about the risk of collapse of two old neighborhoods in Ahvaz

An expert has warned of the devastation of two old neighborhoods in the city of Ahvaz, which is being flooded with sewage. At the same time, discussions continue about the “causes” of this disaster and the waste of hundreds of millions of dollars in World Bank loans to improve the sewage systems of Ahvaz and Shiraz.

Two old neighborhoods in Ahvaz have been facing flooding and rising sewage levels after heavy rains that began on December 15.

On Monday, December 30, ISNA news agency quoted Kiamarth Hajizadeh, director general of Khuzestan's Crisis Management, as saying that a 4.5 magnitude earthquake could destroy some houses in Bagh Sheikh and Adham Street, which are considered old neighborhoods of Ahvaz, and bring disaster.

According to Iranian news agencies, the lack of a surface water collection network in Ahvaz, as well as the deterioration of the sewage network, caused water and sewage to remain stagnant in some homes for up to a week.

Askar Molaei Kataki, the deputy coordinator of development affairs for the governor of Ahvaz, said that the Housing Foundation forces are collecting information about the level of deterioration in these areas.

Recent rainfall caused flooding and sewage overflows in several cities in Khuzestan, including Abadan, Ahvaz, Khorramshahr, and Kot Abdollah.

"Ultra-critical situation"

According to Yasin Kavehpour, the director of District One of Ahvaz Municipality, 70 percent of District One is facing problems with sewage backflow and flooding of streets.

Kavehpour has stated: "About five regions are in a state of extreme crisis."

The local official recalled that the central core of Ahvaz has never had a sewage disposal system and that sewage is disposed of through open drains. This substandard system also creates health problems.

Kavehpour has said that the Ahvaz municipality does not even have a comprehensive map of the city's sewage lines, and this is considered one of the main problems in the discussion of municipal services and the water and sewage sector.

The secretary of the Ahvaz Health Council has also warned about the spread of various diseases, including cholera and leprosy, due to sewage seeping into homes and streets, and has called for the streets to be whitewashed.

Warning against wasting cash donations

Four trillion tomans are planned to be spent from the foreign exchange reserve fund to organize the water and sewage situation in Ahvaz.

Jasem Musapour, head of the Surface Water Committee of the Ahvaz Islamic Council, has warned that this amount must be "managed so that it does not suffer the fate of the World Bank loan."

Musapour is referring to a World Bank loan of several hundred million dollars to improve the sewer lines of four cities in 1983, of which $279 million was earmarked for the cities of Ahvaz and Shiraz.

These days, several Iranian media outlets and news agencies are looking for an answer to the question of what the World Bank loan was used for.

In this regard, IRNA Plus spoke with Darvish Ali Karimi and Habibollah Moradi, two former CEOs of Ahvaz Water Authority.

Karimi has said that he only played a role in obtaining the loan but was not involved in spending it.

However, Moradi emphasized that "the work had begun during the time of Engineer Darvish Ali Karimi" and that part of the loan was received and spent on improvements to the sewage disposal system, but the rest of the loan was not paid due to the imposition of sanctions.

“Money Poisoning”

One of the first media outlets to report on the World Bank loan was the newspaper "Deniya Eqtesad." In one of its reports, the newspaper wrote that the expiration date of this loan does not overlap with the time of the imposition of sanctions.

The report also quotes Abdolnabi Mousavifard, Friday prayer leader of Ahvaz, as saying that World Bank funds have not been spent in this city.

In October of this year, Gholamreza Shariati, the governor of Khuzestan, aware of the uncertain fate of the World Bank loan, said: "We have suffered from a kind of money poisoning in Khuzestan, meaning that projects are financed, but nothing is done."

Source: DW