JEDDAH: Jeddah Municipality recently announced the closure of 61 Gypsum factories and 23 workshops in Hamdania district due to working irregularities.

Badar Mohammadi, an official, said municipality teams visited several workshops as part of their routine surveys and found a number of irregularities at the sites. They closed them to eliminate any risks and potential violations of law.

Mohammadi said that in addition to the 23 workshops, 15 sites were also closed including rest houses, factories, shops, workshops and modern buildings in Bader area, mostly due to rent irregularities.

He said that the municipality also towed a number of trucks that were parked in public placed as the authorities had previously asked their owners to remove them by themselves, yet they failed to do so.

Mohammadi stressed that ongoing follow up visits will take place on these sites in an effort to continue to stop encroachment on government lands and to prevent illegal construction of homes and factories.