JEDDAH – Residents of Jeddah started flocking back to the North Corniche, which was closed to the public nearly two years ago for a massive overhaul of the seafront. Work was carried out over a three-kilometer stretch of the Corniche from the Border Guard Command in the south to Al-Nawrus Square in the north. The new SR180 million facelift saw the building of a sandy beach, recreational places for children, separate paths for joggers, Wi-Fi services and new lampposts. Also, 10 restrooms have been constructed – five for men and five for women, in addition to restrooms for the physically-challenged, Al-Hayat daily reported. At the Big Project awards in Dubai, on Dec. 4, the award for Civil Development Project of the Year was won by the Jeddah municipality for the development of the Jeddah Corniche. The award was presented by Raz Islam, Publishing Director of CPI, to Hani Aburas, Mayor of Jeddah. “First of all, on behalf of the people in Jeddah we are very delighted today to receive this award because we have recently opened a huge project in the waterfront, and that project is the one we were nominated for, and won today,” Aburas said after receiving the award. “This project is very important because Jeddah is a coastal city. Our asset is the sea and we need to capitalize on that. This project is a destination now for the people of Jeddah to spend their weekends and vacations,” he said. The municipal council registered a number of observations during its inspection tour of the Corniche. The municipality received dozens of suggestions from beachgoers and said it takes seriously all suggestions and observations that serve the residents of Jeddah and its visitors. In line with the spirit of cooperation, the Jeddah Friends Society has a number of volunteers – young men and women – to cooperate with the municipality in protecting the seafront. Abdulaziz Al-Nahari, official spokesman for the municipality, said it intends to set up surveillance cameras along the Northern Corniche to safeguard public properties at the seafront in coordination with the security authorities. “We bank on the awareness of the public in protecting the Corniche as it is for their recreation that these facilities and utilities have been constructed. Dealing with these facilities in a civilized manner is an indication of the residents' awareness. The graffiti we have seen written on the facilities are but by a tampering lot that do not represent all of society,” he said. Al-Nahari added that the municipality has signed a contract with a specialist company for cleaning the Corniche round the clock and another contract for operation and maintenance, supervising the Corniche and receiving suggestions and complaints from picnickers and visitors. The Jeddah Friends Society formed a team of volunteers comprising 400 young men and women. Their tasks include watching and monitoring the Corniche in cooperation with the municipality's supervisors and providing assistance to those in need. Volunteer Abdulraheem Al-Thubaiti said he registered in the team through social networking sites. Mayor Aburas met with the team to acquaint them with the project and set the general goals required from volunteers serving Jeddah's residents. “We created awareness among beachgoers not to swim at forbidden locations, guided picnickers, provided first aid to the injured and alerted residents and visitors not to light barbeques, bring charcoal or anything else that can cause a fire,” said Al-Thubaiti. Al-Thubaiti added that volunteers distributed garbage bags and urged picnickers to keep the beachfront clean. “Some of the visitors and picnickers suggested we impose a fine of SR150 on those who litter.” Sultan Asiri, another volunteer, spoke of the problems volunteers faced including a youth who climbed a public structure and voiced his intention to smash it. He was given the appropriate advice. Others tried to tamper with Wi-Fi Internet devices installed on top of restrooms. They were issued violation tickets.
