Man always hates things he is not familiar with. This is the reality of our day-to-day life. We experience this reality in our relations with other people. We also experience it in our relations with state institutions and ministries.
Most of the time, one rejects, opposes or even expresses anger at various things. Soon, however, this attitude changes when things become clear to him and he turns into a supporter of the idea he had opposed.
This is true of the anger a sizeable portion of the society feels on diverse issues and projects in our country. I think it is because of lack of enough information about these issues and projects.
Sometimes there is total absence of information, which puts the public in the dark about these projects, which are announced only when work on them starts, and this causes confusion.
For instance, there are many projects that are being implemented about which the vast majority of the public does not know anything: their contribution to development, when and how they will be executed, and when they will be finished.
Some government officials might ask what has the public got to do with these projects, their date of completion or the benefit they will bring to society.
This might be a logical question, but the people are concerned because these projects are ultimately meant for them, aren’t they? Should they not be a part of decision-making regarding these projects? Should they not be a part of decision-making regarding projects our state institutions plan to implement and their future strategy?
It is necessary to make the public a partner and supporter of these projects instead of it being confined to the role of a spectator, which angers it.
For example, sometimes roads are closed partially or totally, and infrastructure projects are implemented. In most cases, people wake up to discover that roads have been closed. In the best of cases, a small announcement, not more than a few sentences, is made about such road closures. But this is always done just two days, at most, before the road is closed.
Rarely does an Ashghal official come out early to address the public about reasons for the road closure, the outcome of the project or its completion date. This makes the public critical of Ashghal, although it implements great projects and does great work. Absence of information creates confusion for the public.
A few weeks ago, citizens and residents fulminated against the administration of Doha International Airport for closing down the parking lot at the arrivals terminal. They criticised the administration for carrying out some work in the parking lot at this time of the year. They also asked about the reason for these works.
They, however, did not get answers to all their questions. Only yesterday was a press release sent from the administration saying that the parking lot was closed because a train station is coming up there as part of the rail project.
But the question here is: Why did not the public hear this explanation from the airport administration earlier? Why did not an official come out with this information at the outset?
Everybody was expecting the parking lot to remain, particularly after the new arrivals terminal became functional. But now people are asking why the temporary parking lot was established when more urgent projects needed the money spent on it.
Talking of the rail project, I need to note that many people do not know anything about it, except its date of completion, which is in 2019. Nobody knows anything about the various stages of implementation of this project, the location of the stations or even the routes. This raises questions in the minds of people about the ability of the authorities to complete the project by the specified date.
The public does not have enough information about the projects of Qatar Foundation or Educational City, a great educational, scientific and research project. The public needs to be given enough information. But I am sorry to say, this does not happen most of the time.
Why should there be so much anger at projects in the education sector, in particular? The reason is that there is a wide gap between the society and the Supreme Education Council and the Ministry of Education. Citizens are not made partners in these projects and informed about plans.
The same is true of the health sector, where there is need for more communication before the implementation of projects, not after the projects are started or when there are delays.
Tens of projects across the country are not completed on schedule. The completion dates of these projects are changed more than once.
I think some officials hate to give details about projects before they are launched because they do not wish to publicise the starting date, the dates for various stages and the completion date. Sometimes the projects are delayed throughout.
I believe the public will not get angry if there is enough information about these projects, their completion dates, and the benefit they will bring to society. All this public ire won’t be there when there is enough information. There will instead be public interaction with the projects and strong support. We may even get creative feedback from the public as well as positive reactions. This can be enough to achieve the quantum leap we want for our country.
We hope our officials are more open to society and public opinion. They need to involve the society in future projects and plans, which are intended for the citizens, after all. In this respect secrecy is meaningless.
The people only need to know about the projects before they are launched. They need to get the complete picture. When there is full information about the things we will do in future, there will be positive interaction.
There will be anger as long as there is not enough information about projects, particularly those directly linked to the daily activities of people. This is why it is important for our officials to ensure transparency and give full information to the public.
