3 Saudi villages without houses, power, roads

Three villages in Saudi Arabia have been found to be living on candles and primitive lanterns as they have no electricity although the Gulf Kingdom controls more than a fifth of the world’s proven oil resources, a newspapers reported on Monday.

Sabq said its reporter accidentally stumbled across the three villages which also do not have any asphalted roads and real houses as residents still live tents and in straw cottages. The three villages are also served by one health centre, around 10 km away.

The paper said the three villages—A Banan, Al Kharees and Al Abadela—are located near the western Saudi town of Alqunfuda.

“Residents of these villages live in extremely difficult conditions as they are deprived of the simplest necessities of life…those who have not seen these villages will not believe they exist in Saudi Arabia….we were shocked by what  we saw,” it said.

“There is no electricity in almost all houses while there is only one small health centre nearly 10 km away…people there have to stand the biting winter cold weather and the scorching summer temperatures…all roads leading to those villages are not asphalted  and are full of sand and earth…the villages appear to have been totally neglected by the municipality and the ministries of health, education, transport and social affairs…we also noticed there is only one school for those villages but it is too small and shabby…one could hardly believe it is a school.”

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