Jeddah Mayor Hani Abu Ras has rejected a recent report showing that Jeddah lagged behind other municipalities in implementing development projects.

“Jeddah’s performance was weak compared to other municipalities,” said the report issued last week by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs about the second quarter performance and achievements of municipalities in the Kingdom.

Abu Ras claimed the city got a low rating because some municipal officials had supplied incorrect data about current and completed projects.

“The reality is totally different from the data used for the basis of the report. Some mistakes were made when information was supplied to the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs,” the mayor said in a circular to the director general of administrative and financial affairs in the mayor’s office.

The report said that Jeddah performed poorly in terms of inviting bids and signing contracts for new projects. The report called on the poor-performing municipalities to improve their efforts to implement vital national development projects.

The mayor said he would hold a meeting with the department that supplied the “wrong” information to the ministry.