Will They Return to the Same Houses?

Osman Mirghani

The areas which were destroyed by the recent floods are many in almost all the states.

Despite the apparent concern of the government authorities towards the disaster, all the current efforts will stop by the end of the rainy season.

All of us will forget the disaster except the villagers whose houses were all at a ruin. Those villagers will start thinking about how to rebuild their houses or look for new locations.

I think it is time for the government to seize this opportunity and change the urban pattern.

It is not romantic thinking, but it is what the people deserve considering the rich resources of the country.

What is needed is a strategic plan targeting the urban pattern and modality of the rural and urban areas.

We have sufficient centers of construction which can design modern houses at a low cost.

It is possible to design a nice rural house with a cost of less than US$10 thousand in which there is a small garden, a modern drainage system, and powered by solar energy.

Such a sample of urban development provides a dignified house and creates tens of thousands of job opportunities for youth including laborers, masons, technicians, engineers, administrators, etc.

It is shameful and disgraceful that the rainy season becomes a period of wailing instead of utilizing this blessing that most countries are looking for.

Let us hope that this rainy season becomes the last sorrow of the Sudanese people.