MAKKAH: Damaged and old cars abandoned in several localities and on roadsides in Makkah have become a nuisance, with many residents complaining that the junk needs to be removed at once.
Most of the vehicles found abandoned are in the industrial area of the city, a local publication has reported, quoting residents’ grievances.
Ibrahim Bilal, a Saudi national, said that such vehicles are lying everywhere in Makkah. “Some of them have been abandoned along busy roads for not only months, but several years. The authorities concerned need to pay attention to this issue.”
Bandar Mushi, another Saudi national, said: “We do not know if these are stolen cars or they are owned by traders of prohibited items who finished their job and left the junk on the roadsides and in the lanes.”
Another resident, Adham Bifari, said it is very important that the authorities concerned intervene and remove these vehicles from these areas. “In some cases, these junked cars create a hurdle in the movement of the fire tenders of the civil defense department in residential areas.”
Col. Talaat Al-Mansoori, director of Makkah Traffic Administration, said the damaged cars were withdrawn from the roadsides 15 days after “Damaged” or “Talif” is written in Arabic on them by the traffic department. “After that, the level of the damage is assessed, like whether they not have tires and which parts are missing.”
Without mentioning the period, he said that so far 1,980 cars have been removed from these areas.
Osama Zaituni, spokesman for the secretariat of the Holy City, said that if nobody claims the vehicles for three months, they are given for recycling. The number of such damaged cars is significantly increasing, he agreed.
Abandoned cars become an eyesore in Makkah
Abandoned cars become an eyesore in Makkah
