JEDDAH, 18 March 2007 — First it was the sheep, goats and cattle. Now it’s the camels’ turn to move.
The camel market in Ubrug Al-Righamah, on the east side of Jeddah, completed the move yesterday to a new location in the Al-Khomrah area, about 30 km south of downtown Jeddah, that is also the new home for the livestock and firewood markets, which both moved last week.
Nasser Al-Jarallah, who oversees livestock and slaughterhouse operations for the Jeddah Municipality, said that camel dealers cooperated with the move and were given two weeks’ notice.
“When the bulldozers came on Saturday most of the camel dealers had already moved and only few were making last-minute moving arrangements,” he said.
Jarallah said that the new market is up and running with a new mosque, toilets, administrative buildings and veterinary clinics. He said that there are numerous road signs to indicate the location of the new market in the area.
Jarallah said the municipality has also formulated a plan to crack down on vendors that had a tendency to establish themselves outside the old market undercutting the established dealers because they don’t pay for renting space inside the market.
Meanwhile, municipality workers have completely dismantled the old livestock market, which was emptied out last Sunday.
The land of the old markets will be cleaned up and developed for commercial and real estate properties. Residents have widely applauded the move, saying the markets were a source of bad smells and snarling traffic.
Real estate prices in the area were being kept down due to these inconveniences.
