JEDDAH, 8 September 2005 — The Madinah Municipality, which drew public criticism for tearing down a portion of the historic Hejaz Railway, said torrential floods had destroyed 80 percent of the railway bridge in the Aqiq Valley and vowed to reconstruct the bridge in an appropriate place in coordination with the Supreme Commission for Tourism (SCT).
The municipality made the statement in response to press reports accusing that it had demolished the bridge.
Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of SCT, had asked the municipal authorities in Madinah to give a convincing explanation for the wrongdoing.
The municipality also showed pictures of the bridge taken after the floods, which hit Madinah last year, to prove that 80 percent of it was damaged because of the natural disaster. It also claimed that it removed the remaining parts of the bridge because of the danger it posed to the public.
The municipality also explained that it removed the remaining bridge on the recommendation of a team of engineers including an expert on floods and valleys. The expert, who had earlier worked with the United Nations, warned that the bridge would collapse if hit by another torrential flood.
“We have preserved the stones of the bridge to reconstruct it and protect it as a historic monument,” it added.
The municipality also said it had previously taken a number of steps to safeguard the bridge.
“We are very much concerned with antiques in the city as we know they are important for not only the history of Madinah but also of the whole the Kingdom,” the statement carried by Al-Madinah Arabic daily said. A senior municipality official also noted the department’s efforts to protect the Wadi Ronuna Dam as well as some palaces and forts in the city.
In a recent press statement, Prince Sultan blasted the municipality for demolishing the bridge and said it was an unacceptable mistake. “Destruction of historical sites and antiques are unacceptable,” he said and praised Saudis for protesting the destruction of the bridge. “These are signs of cultural progress,” he said about the protests.
“There is an instruction from Crown Prince Sultan, former chairman of SCT, that no historic building or sites will be removed without coordinating with the Supreme Commission for Tourism,” said Dr. Fahd Al-Jarboue, acting director of media and public relations at the SCT.
Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Prince Miteb has sent a circular in June 2004 to all municipalities urging them to present a report on dilapidated buildings to SCT before tearing them down to establish their importance in terms of tourism and antiquities.
Last year, Interior Minister Prince Naif, who is also chairman of SCT, instructed regional governors that they should not allow anybody to conduct digging work near historical sites before coordinating with the commission.
Jarboue pointed out that the tourism commission had sent four top municipal officials on a field visit to European cities to gain first-hand knowledge of measures they have taken for the protection of historical structures and architectural heritage.
“The SCT has so far dispatched 55 municipal officials to advanced countries to keep them abreast with efforts for tourism development and preservation of heritage and antiques,” he added.
