JEDDAH – A number of businessmen have denounced the municipality for removing their warehouses in Qauzain district, south of Jeddah, saying the arbitrary action incurred them heavy financial losses. "As a result of the municipality's demolition operation, we have suffered big losses as our warehouses were exposed to theft," said Abdul Majeed Bin Shaihoon. "The municipality removed the walls around our warehouses exposing them to theft," he said. Shaihoon spoke about the incident's background. "The municipality had asked some traders to shift their warehouses in Balad a few years ago. It had promised them that they would be given another place for the purpose," he said. "But the municipality did not provide an alternative place. Consequently, the traders purchased plots of land in Qauzain to build their warehouses. The municipality knows this fact and this is evident from its silence for years," he told Okaz/Saudi Gazette. The municipality started demolishing the warehouses in Qauzain without giving any warning, said Abdul Rahman Al-Zahrani, another victim of the action. "We were surprised when some municipal officials visited Qauzain on Feb. 3 and placed stickers on the warehouses saying they would be demolished the next day," he said. Ahmed Bawakid, another victim, said the municipality sent heavy equipment the next day and started demolishing the warehouses, destroying goods worth millions of riyals. He said the municipality should have provided alternative places to build warehouses before destroying the existing ones in Qauzain. He also urged the authorities to penalize realtors who sold the plots to the traders without official documents. Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishal Bin Majed had ordered the quick referral of those involved in the running of illegal warehouses in Qauzain district to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution (BIP). The suspects included businessmen and ordinary citizens, in addition to those involved in building the warehouses, including the employees of the government agency overseeing the site. The governor had also asked the Jeddah Municipality to rapidly remove these warehouses and to search for suitable alternative site for the warehouses away from residential districts. The governor had sent urgent letters to three government agencies — the municipality, the BIP and the police — to investigate the large number of warehouses and the continuation of the construction activity in the area. People of Qauzain neighborhood, which has a population of about 30,000, had filed complaints to the governor against the illegal warehouses. The sources confirmed that the governor said in his letter to quickly remove the warehouses and hold all those allowing the construction and the owners of the warehouses to be held accountable. Sources also said that the warehouse owners bought the land without official proof for the construction of warehouses to escape the legal rent payments. Some of these warehouses are random and have been receiving electricity illegally. Walid Al-Jdani, a resident of the area, said the warehouses made the lives of residents into nightmares because of the large number of trucks carrying goods, especially fuel, auto parts and equipment, moving in and out. "They lack the means of safety because they operate without permits. There are many warehouses and they exceed 90," said Al-Jidani.
