JEDDAH, 8 September — Jeddah Mayor Abdullah Al-Muallami has stated that his office will seek the assistance of Makkah, Madinah and Taif municipalities to tackle the problem of garbage accumulation in the city’s residential districts.
Speaking to Arab News after inspecting uncleared garbage in the city on Friday, the mayor blamed the new cleaning company for the problem as it did not put in place all the required equipment as agreed.
"Moreover, the company’s workers are new and do not have a clear idea of the garbage situation and cleaning work in the city," the mayor said.
However, he said the municipality has taken a number of emergency measures to solve the problem speedily. The mayor’s statement came after Saudis and expatriates expressed worries about the spread of infectious diseases in the city as a result of accumulating garbage in residential areas.
"There are emergency teams which work 12 hours continuously to support the teams in the field," Muallami said after inspecting cleaning job in various parts of the city. The number of emergency workers is 1,000.
Asked whether the municipality had any plan to take punitive action against the new Dallah Services company for causing the present crisis, the mayor said: "The new company has not taken any money after signing the contract and it will not be possible now to impose any fines."
He said the municipality’s main objective was to solve the problem quickly and bring things back to normal.
Muallami disclosed plans to divide Jeddah into different geographical regions and contract with more one company for the cleaning work, instead of depending on a single firm.
At present, the municipality carries out cleaning of 80 percent of the city while a private firm, Alawan company, undertakes the cleaning of the remaining 20 percent in the south and east of Jeddah.
Dallah company had said during the signing of contract that it had 26,000 garbage containers and 3,700 workers. But Muallami said there was shortage of cleaning equipment.
Asked about the new appointment of Ibrahim Makki in place of Ibrahim Aalam as deputy mayor for services, he said it was the jurisdiction of the mayor. He said Aalam had requested retirement. The new deputy took over last Thursday.
Muallami said the new cleaning company would bear the expenses caused by appointment of more workers and participation of other companies in the cleaning operation.
Ibrahim Makki said he would work out a practical plan to contain the clean-up crisis. He has already held detailed talks with executives of the new cleaning company.
