Chan'ad Bahraini

I came across a series of photos posted on the Karbabad.net forum which perfectly illusrates the absurd contrast between the Seef district and Karbabad village that I mentioned in a post about poverty a while ago.

Seef, has perfect wide roads, with wide pavements, lined with trees and street lamps. All the building are clean and shiny, as they were only built within the last five or six years.

Karbabad however is a neglected village. The houses are crumbling and without paint. The roads are barely wide enough for one car to squeeze through, and most them are just dirt-tracks (without tarmac). After it rains, the pools of stagnant water remain on the roads for weeks.

What is so striking is that these two places lie right next to each other. It take only five minutes for one to walk from one scene in to the other; to walk from one world in to the other. It obviously raises questions about why Karbabad (and other villages) has been so specifically neglected. There are so many new roads being built in Seef... would it hurt to make some proper roads in Karbabad? (To see the rest of the photos click here).

And on a related note, recall my post about the plans to build a highway through Diraz and Barbar villages. I find it ridiculous that they want to build a highway passing through Diraz, when much of Diraz village doesn't have proper roads. Its ridiculous that they want to build a new city off the coast of Diraz, when Diraz village is so dilapidated. Why are we so obsessed with trying to solve problems with these huge elaborate construction projects (which so often involve reclaiming land)? Is it not possible to spend a bit on regenerating the rundown villages, rather than building these embarassingly shiny cities right next them? Probably not.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 01, 2005 at 1/01/2005 07:09:00 pm. Permalink