A Diary of a New Town
It took me a while to realise what the mess was near the exit from 30. This is the largest diversion I’ve seen on a highway outside downtown Kuwait City. I think it will be a challenge for sometime. The plans for the bridge sound very exciting though, so it will be worth the wait.
The funny thing is that the project will take as long as we’ve been waiting for it. I first mentioned it in 2008 here, and again last year here.
Mangaf Beach was affected by an oil spill and has since received some attention. It was being regularly cleared over the past few weeks by KNPC. The final touches, which were by no means a small task, were carried out by a group of volunteers who organised themselves to be there for three hours last Saturday. Do please remember: the weather only started getting better this week, so the heat was also there with them! I was unfortunately unable to join (my sincere apologies) and I hope to be there next time.
On behalf of anyone reading this post, and indeed everyone benefiting from a clean beach, I want to thank Yuri Lipkov for organising the clean-up, and Yan Liu for keeping me informed. The group photo above is by Mr Akbar (KNPC) – Thank you.
The next clean-up is planned for down the road, Mahboula Beach on Saturday 30th October 2010 7am-10am.
Photo by BitJockey. More here.
I arrived this morning from a business trip. When I read on 248am and Nicole B blogs about a spill near the North Pier, I headed straight to the beach and saw the action there. There were two security cars. Having just arrived from 12 hour flight, the last thing I wanted to do is argue about taking photos. I chickened out – so please click the links in this post for more information.
With the terrible weather and the extra heat associated with road-surfacing, there has been a lot of activity at night recently. I took these shots outside our house a couple of nights ago. They started working around midnight and finished just before 4am.
It’s not by any means difficult, but it’s a lot of work! I would also argue that in the current weather it’s barely legal. They do start very early though, and are done by 11:30am. The bitumen (black stuff at the end of the video) was applied Monday afternoon. This is before the layers of asphalt, that make up the actual road surface, will be added.
I’ve been wanting to do someting like this for many parts of Mangaf: Mosques and schools being built, roads under construction, and even houses appearing from holes in the ground. But unfortunately with the weather and dust (and time!) it’s almost impossible. My Canon G11 came to the rescue. I tied it to our bedroom window (from the inside) and kept it more-or-less in the same spot. Took some snaps of the men doing the various steps.
The work started sometime ago when tonnes of earth was removed. Then new sand was brought in and compacted onto the ground. The piping was done for the sewage and rainwater lines. Then the kerb was laid and manholes fixed in place. The process above comes after weeks of tweaking the area into the right levels, and completing the small jobs here and there. It is by no means a small job. In the pictures, you will also see the base for one of the street lamps to come. Transformation is almost complete.
This was in today’s Al Qabas (daily paper). It’s not as bad as they say: it hasn’t been a year! In fact they’ve made a lot of progress in their first few months. However I have noticed a significant slow down recently.
If anyone has information, please post a comment. I will try to talk to the project manager later this week.
UPDATE 28/3/2010
There are some signs of activity around the area. I haven’t had a chance to visit the project manager – I’m traveling. It’s not as bad as is in the paper!
