348 Jeddah buildings declared dangerous

A dilapidated building in downtown Jeddah. (AN photo by Thamer Al-Faraj)

By SULTAN AL-TAMIMI | ARAB NEWS

JEDDAH: The Municipality of Jeddah issued warnings to the owners of 348 dilapidated buildings that are prone to falling at any moment. It urged the occupants to vacate the buildings immediately. The municipality asked the owners and inhabitants of these building to visit its committee overseeing uninhabitable buildings.

Khalid Zaini, coordinator for the committee overseeing uninhabitable buildings, said notifications have been sent to building surveyors to ascertain whether the 348 buildings should be demolished or repaired.

He added that the majority of these buildings are located in the western and eastern Baghdadiyah districts of the city.

This follows a similar drive a few months ago in which the municipality called on around 650 building owners to visit its committee overseeing uninhabitable buildings. Zaini said some of the owners of these buildings have failed to visit the committee and urged them to do so quickly. He also asked them to bring with them their title deeds proving ownership.

“Previous incidents in which buildings collapsed were due to them not being built with proper building material, or due to poor maintenance, or old age,” he added.

“Many of these buildings have been built illegally using mud, wood and other material that should not have been used for building. This has then led to homes becoming unsafe,” he added.

In May this year the Jeddah Municipality asked the Saudi Electric Company to disconnect power to over 6,000 buildings that were designated as uninhabitable and dangerous. This came after two buildings collapsed in the city — one in the Al-Sahifah district near Bab Makkah and the other in the Baghdadiyah district. Many people, including several children, died when the buildings collapsed.

The majority of these buildings provide cheap accommodation to non-Saudis who live on low incomes.

Comments

JEDDAH RESIDENT

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This is a step in the right direction. Bravo! Important next steps are to publish the addresses of the buildings, to require that entry to them be blocked and multilingual warning signs be posted, and to require the owners to demolish the building within a specific, very short, period of time, or be subject to fines so severe that responsible ownership would be cheaper. Finally, the city must establish a practical plan for safe housing for every person residing in Jeddah, whether a visitor or a citizen. The housing compounds should not be exempt from this effort. Many older compounds are rundown and dirty; the housing is unsafe and unsanitary. The city also should ensure that residents of housing compounds, many of whom are professional people who provide important services to the community and to the nation, have safe, decent housing.

DR. TAALI NAGGAR

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Is it really necessary to mention that the inhabitants are ''Non-Saudis living on low income''? Could've written a bit about the area's history and as to how it tranformed into such a state instead.

TALAL

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"The majority of these buildings provide cheap accommodation to non-Saudis who live on low incomes." This sounds like racism and should be addressed as such. These people are likely Muslim and should be treated with respect.
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