JEDDAH, 14 September 2006 — Sheesha cafes across Jeddah have been given respite while the municipality revises and sets new regulations, said Jeddah Mayor Adel Faqeeh while speaking to reporters at an inaugural event in the city yesterday.
Faqeeh said that cafes would still be able to provide customers with sheesha until the new regulations are announced. “For now you can still go and smoke sheesha,” the mayor said, adding that a municipality inspection that took place two weeks ago was not part of any new regulations but just a regular check to ensure sheesha cafes had licenses. Municipal inspectors discovered that out of 209 cafes, 127 were violating municipal regulations as they had licenses only for serving food and drink.
Since there are no specific licenses for cafes to serve sheesha, the municipality is presently in the process of formulating new regulations. “Since there is a huge number of investments that just cannot be shut down, we’ve decided to make special regulations that would ensure health and safety requirements and public rights,” the mayor said.
Attending the event was also Saleh Al-Turki of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI). He said that a special meeting of JCCI’s cafes and restaurants committee would be held to help the municipality in setting new regulations. “We would be in touch with cafe owners to keep them informed about the new regulations and assist them in complying with them,” he said.
