JEDDAH, 29 June 2007 — Other than being one of the most beautiful landmarks in Saudi Arabia and part of the Kingdom’s heritage, the old buildings in the Historical Area of Downtown Balad are a time bomb waiting to explode.
The Historical Area comprises a chain of narrow meandering lanes, a series of old buildings mainly made out of wood that are on the verge of collapse, a market buzzing with people, tons of flammable items stored in makeshift illegal warehouses, careless tenants who seem to be oblivious of fire safety regulations, and prime real estate land worth millions of riyals.
When the government first designated it as a historical landmark and recognized it as a potential tourist destination years ago, the area had over 550 buildings. Since then, 65 buildings have been destroyed in fires and around 120 buildings, deemed uninhabitable due to a lack of maintenance, have been abandoned.
Last Saturday, three people died in a fire in the area, the second to occur in the last four weeks. “If the buildings are preserved and renovated they could last for another 100 years,” said Mukhtar Alshibani, a prominent architect and chair of the ICTA-Arabian Region (International Commission on Technology and Accessibility). Alshibani cited the example of wooden windows that could be coated to make them fire resistant.
Speaking about the deteriorating condition of the building, Abdullah Ali, a Yemeni merchant in the old market said: “Dozens of buildings are uninhabited, the ceiling and walls have collapsed making them unfit for dwelling.”
Despite a Civil Defense ban on using buildings in the area as warehouses, many shop owners and stall owners continue to use some buildings as makeshift warehouses.
They complain that they find it hard to move their goods to warehouses located outside the area due to narrow lanes and pedestrian-only streets.
“All of us keep our goods in the buildings. Whoever tells you other than that is lying,” said Abdulrahman Amoudi, a shop owner. “The number of warehouses exceeds the number of shops,” said Ahmad Amoudi, another shop owner in the market. Most of the goods sold in the area are flammable.
“The warehouses are not the problem. It’s the tenants living in the buildings, they’re the main causes of fires,” added Abdulrahman.
Narrow roads and heavily congested parking lots are a nightmare for firefighters at times of emergency. It also takes visitors hours to find parking for their cars. Roads get blocked all the time, as most alleyways in the historical area only allow space for one car to drive at a time.
Rusty air-conditioning units can also be seen carelessly placed on wooden “Roshan” windows. According to the Civil Defense, the wooden windows are highly flammable and allow fires to spread from one building to another. Telephone and electricity lines can also be seen unprofessionally placed like cobwebs from one building to another.
According to Saudi law, owners of old historical buildings are not permitted to demolish them and build new structures. Landlords wishing to renovate their buildings are required to seek permission from the Historical Area Preservation Department that has guidelines in place detailing the type of work that can or cannot be carried out.
Some residents allege that landlords deliberately cause fires. One resident, who did not want his name published, told Arab News: “Owners of historical buildings in the downtown historical area can’t demolish buildings and build modern structures in their place... The only way to get permission to construct a modern building is if the old building is destroyed due to a natural hazard such as a fire.”
