By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter

The severe water-logging in Doha Industrial Area caused by the heavy downpour on November 10 is yet to clear, hitting normal life of residents of the locality.

Although the area has been battered by rains in the past, no visible action has taken place to improve the infrastructure, especially on streets 35 to 40.

Warehouses of several leading companies, mainly importers of food items, are located on these six streets. As a result, vehicles carrying foodstuff regularly get stranded in the giant potholes that are water-logged.

The absence of proper and effective drainage systems in the area has also adversely affected the lives of the residents. This had caused severe flooding on the streets even when the area received light rains in the past.

Owing to such issues, several companies have moved their workforce to other areas out of Doha, especially to such locations as Umm Salal Mohamed.

Some of the regular visitors to the area, mainly daily office-goers, told Gulf Times that although they stay outside the Industrial Area they find it extremely difficult to move through some of the streets as their vehicles could get stuck in the muddy and slushy pools.

"More than once our vehicles were stuck in the past owing to extremely bad conditions of the roads during the rains," said an office-goer.

On occasions residents have been shifted to other localities by the owners of their companies as because of prolonged water-logging.

Though there has been massive allocation of funds for the development of better road and other infrastructure in the eastern Industrial Area in recent months, no major work seems to have taken place to improve the conditions of the streets where accommodations of several companies are located.

Recently, Ashghal had announced allocation of more than QR1bn for better roads and other infrastructure in the area.