AMMAN
— Fuad and Fadi, two boys living in Sweileh’s Irsal neighborhood, have to go
down a derelict staircase every day to get to the grocery store or play with
their friends in the street.
اضافة اعلان
Fadi,
the old brother, says “I am always scared to use the staircase because of the
cracks in it and the injuries it caused us.”
He
said the injuries were mostly mild.
Ibrahim
Khalil, another citizen living in Miselon neighborhood, also complained about
the neighborhood staircase, indicating that it has
been left for 20 years without maintenance work or repairs.
According
to him, residents had to personally weld metal to the stairs after his brother
fell going down the stairs and had a severe head injury that required a plastic
surgery afterwards.
Khalil
said that people no longer use the staircase, because it is “a safety hazard,” calling
on the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) to take action to fix the problem.
According
to him, the stairs, embedded with metal, “can be the end of someone in dim
light if they are not closely familiar with every inch of the stairs.”
“We
tried to communicate with GAM but all our attempts were in vain,” he added.
Meanwhile, Abu Muhammad, a carpenter, said that
Al-Mhammadi stairs leading to his shop was built 50 years ago, and had not
undergone maintenance since. “Thank god only few people use it, which makes it
better than other stairs,” he said.
As for the rudimentary staircase on Princess Rayah
Street, it is also old and dilapidated, awaiting for maintenance by
GAM,
according to one neighborhood resident.
Noor Abdullah, who lives in the same neighborhood,
said that the street is old and narrow, and the staircase was meant to
facilitate pedestrians’ movement and make it easier for them to navigate the
steep downhill slope.
A pedestrian bridge connecting Sweileh schools (such
as Sweileh High School for Boys and Rida Kaabi School, among others) and
Miselon neighborhood, is also and infested with dry grass and weeds due to
absence of proper lighting.
Um Abdullah, who lives in the neighborhood, says that
she warned her children against using the neglected bridge since it is not
safe. She noted that repairing the bridge would serve a large segment of the
community and spare them an otherwise long commute.
Director of Sweileh City, Eid Khair, said that the
municipality will tackle any issues or complaints referred to it, noting that
officials scheduled to go on field tour today to check the conditions of the
city’s staircases. He stressed that he will contact the concerned departments at
the municipality to resolve the issue.
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