Buildings ‘cannot withstand quakes’

Most government projects are not designed to withstand earthquakes except the newest ones in the Jamarat area in Makkah, said Habib Zainul Abideen, deputy minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
He warned that the current building code used in Saudi Arabia was not sufficient to resist earthquakes and tremors. Importers are trying to bring poor-quality building materials into Saudi Arabia. Government has now set up specialized quality control laboratories to test structural materials.
“Our labs stopped many below-standard construction steel from entering the country. The importers claimed they were from Europe but they turned out to be poorly made steel from some Asian countries,” Zainul Abideen said.
Now every importer and local contractor double-checks their materials before bringing them in because they know that Saudi Arabia has specialized and advanced laboratories, he added.
“These labs conducted 500,000 random tests of building materials at construction projects. These tests helped contractors find mistakes in their projects at an early stage,” he said. The deputy minister was speaking to the media at a ministry press conference to announce the upcoming symposium and exhibition on quality control laboratories for structural projects.