JEDDAH, 15 August — Municipal and Rural Affairs Minister Dr. Muhammad Al-Jarallah has signed an SR422 million contract with Dallah Al-Baraka to collect and dispose garbage in various parts of Jeddah city, according to Ibrahim Alam, deputy mayor for services.

He was addressing a press conference at his office on Tahliya Street on Tuesday. Aalam said the cleaning contract will cover nine municipalities under the governorate: Balad, Khuzam, Jamia, Sharafiya, Aziziya, Airport, New Jeddah, Obhur and Briman.

The announcement followed complaints about garbage accumulation throughout the city. Rotting garbage has been a common view in most of the city’s neighborhoods for the past several weeks.

Alam said the delay in collecting garbage from residential areas was caused by the changeover of the cleaning work from the old company to Dallah. He acknowledged that the interim period was difficult to manage.

He explained the municipality’s plan to manage the situation until Sept. 1, when the new company takes over the cleaning services fully. Dallah will take over the services in three phases. The first phase started last Saturday with three municipalities. The second phase will start on Saturday.

He emphasized the need for an understanding between the two contracting companies to keep the city clean and tidy. He also urged Saudis and expatriates to cooperate with the municipality until the new company takes over the services fully.

"They have to keep the garbage inside the special containers," he added.

The new cleaning company will have a center, which will work round the clock to meet the requirements of the public. The contract includes transporting of about a million cubic meters of building leftovers.

Asked about reports on the presence of a large number of rats eating rubbish on the Corniche, Alam said the problem was caused by certain visitors to Corniche who throw rubbish on the ground instead putting them in the specified containers, which he said, could be found at every 30 meters.

On Saudization of jobs, he said Saudi supervisors have been appointed for the nine main regions.

"The remaining jobs are manned by foreigners as they are labor jobs," he pointed out.