MAKKAH: Despite the Makkah construction boom, some ruined buildings and deserted courtyards still exist in a number of residential districts. These areas have become a haven for drug addicts and illegal immigrants. These buildings also pose a serious threat of fire.
Many citizens have asked the municipality to demolish these old buildings. They have complained of criminals using vacant and neglected buildings to watch nearby occupied buildings for opportunities to burglarize residences.
“The old buildings and empty courtyards are being used for drug taking, prostitution and other crimes,” said one resident.
Arab News toured these crumbling buildings and met a number of concerned officials to elicit views of the problem.
Haizaa Al-Abdali, district mayor of Shuab Amir, said he has warned the owners of these old buildings several times to secure them from squatters and riff-raff or demolish them, but his warnings were ignored.
He said he submitted a list containing the names of the property owners to the police but nothing was done so far.
“We once discovered a dead body of a Saudi who died from a drug overdose in one of the deserted buildings,” he said. “Two years later his brother died in the same place from the same cause.”
He called on authorities to do more to address the problem.
Dhafir Al-Bishi, mayor of Al-Jummaizah district, said he has had the same problem as Al-Abdali: building owners who have ignored ultimatums. Al-Bishi went to authorities for help.
“Nothing happened so far in this regard,” he said.
The mayor said he proposed to the municipality to demolish buildings whose owners are unknown.
In their place car parks should be built to help resolve the long-standing problem of insufficient parking capacity, he added.
“These buildings have also become dumps for garbage that sometimes contains volatile substances that might cause fires, threatening the lives and properties of the residents,” he said.
Director of Civil Defense Col. Jameel Arbaeen said his department submits regular reports to the municipality about old buildings and deserted courtyards that posed real danger to the people living close by.
Chairman of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Sheikh Ahmed bin Qasim Al-Ghamdi said these places were also being used as meeting points by unrelated men and women.
“They are also safe havens for criminals,” he warned.
