JEDDAH, 13 March 2007 — After three years of negotiations between the municipality and vendors, the move of Jeddah’s livestock market from the eastern side of Madinah Expressway to Al-Khomrah area, about 30 km south of downtown, was nearing an end yesterday.
City workers — accompanied by police, dump trucks and bulldozers — were seen beginning the task of dismantling the hundreds of empty animal stalls in preparation for eventually selling the land for real estate development.
Every now and then, a laggardly vendor and his employees could be seen scrambling to move out. In one stall, a group of men were trying to dislodge a calf whose hoof got stuck in the space between the door and the bed of a large moving truck loaded down with oxen.
“We had to move because we had no other choice,” said Musbih Al-Hazmi, a middle-aged Saudi sheep vendor, one of the men who was doing last-minute moving yesterday.
Livestock vendors have opposed the move, saying that the new market puts them farther away from buyers. They have also complained of the higher rents they will have to pay the municipality.
Naser Al-Jarallah, who oversees municipality’s slaughterhouses at the market, said that the cattle owners met on Saturday with the landlords of the new market and they have managed to reach an agreement about rent.
For his part, Al-Hazmi said he hasn’t been told that his rent would be lower than previously announced. He also said that he is concerned his sales will be adversely affected because customers may be less inclined to travel the extra distance to the new market. “The only people who would benefit from this shift besides the new market owner are small dealers who would buy cattle for regular price from the new market and sell them for extra to butcheries,” he said.
While Al-Jarallah was monitoring the demolishing process, a Saudi man in his late 50s came and thanked the officials for finally shifting the market. The old man who is living near the market said that they were suffering from the smell and traffic jams caused by the market customers for years. “I’m very happy that this day finally came,” he said.
The nearby coal and firewood market is also going to move next door to the new livestock market. “They were given until next Saturday to complete their transfer to the new location,” said Al-Jarallah.
He also said that the camel market located in Abrug Al-Rigama, 10 kilometers to the south of the evacuated market, is also going to be moved further away from the city center. He said that the bulldozers and officials would start working on the camel market on Monday.
