Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Local authorities have started removing vehicles abandoned in streets and public places at the end of a two-week grace period. As many as 280 vehicles have been removed from the industrial area in north Jeddah on Saturday. A tripartite committee, comprising officials from the municipality, police and traffic police, is supervising the removal of vehicles that were not only an eyesore but also hazardous to residents and visitors. Maj. Gen. Muhammad Al-Qahtani, director of Jeddah traffic police, said the campaign was in line with Cabinet instructions to clear public places of damaged vehicles. He said the campaign kick-started from the industrial area in north Jeddah, which had the largest number of abandoned vehicles. The Jeddah governorate made two announcements on Dec. 1 and Dec. 10, asking owners as well as automobile workshops in the industrial area south of King Abdulaziz International Airport to remove damaged vehicles left in the area as early as possible. The announcement warned that all vehicles that remain in the area will be removed and penal action will be taken against the violators as of Dec. 15. Al-Qahtani said violators will be made to meet the cost of removing the vehicles. He said many owners and workshops had removed their vehicles in compliance with the directive well before the deadline. ‘”Some of them failed to respond to the directive. Subsequently, we started removing the vehicles Saturday morning. As many as 14 patrol units as well as teams from the municipality, traffic police and criminal investigation wing took part in the operation that saw at least 280 vehicles towed away. Several forklifts, huge cranes and towing trucks were used,” he said. According to Al-Qahtani, these vehicles and their parking areas were photographed before they were towed to a designated area for completion of paper work. The officers are verifying whether any of these vehicles were used for criminal activities or whether their owners had any financial obligations. Meanwhile, a number of workshop owners voiced their dismay over the move to remove the vehicles of which their owners did not show up to receive them after repair work. They said the owners did neither pay for the repair work nor did they turn up to receive them. “There are six vehicles parked near our workshop. Their owners of did not come to collect them though we had finished the repair six months ago. We are not in a position to contact them as they did not leave any phone numbers,” said Rafeeq Ishaq, a mechanic. “We parked some of the cars inside the workshop to avert a penal action.” Al-Qahtani, who personally supervised the operation, said owners of some vehicles and workshops objected to the move. “We gave them enough time to remove the vehicles and now after the expiry of the deadline we are going ahead vigorously to implement the decision. There is no rollback as the area remained an eyesore for years because of vehicles being abandoned there,” he said.
