JEDDAH – The Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) has started inspecting all gas stations in the Kingdom to make sure oil does not leak into the soil or harmful gas does not enter the air. Presidency spokesman Hussain Al-Qahtani said: “Lately a gas station in Dammam was closed down and shifted to another location when environmental inspection teams from the presidency detected that it was leaking oil.” He said a Saudi woman living near the station had filed a complaint with the Board of Grievances against the station. “The board referred the case to the PME, which took the decision to close down the gas station and shift it to another safer place.” Al-Qahtani said any new project on land or sea should obtain an environmental certificate from the PME before the start of construction work. “About 95 percent of development projects were implemented after they had obtained this certificate.” He said the PME signed contracts with a number of consultancy offices to study the files of all projects and inform the presidency if these projects adhered to environmental protection rules stipulated by the Council of Ministers in 2001. “When we are sure that the project has met environment protection conditions, we will give it a certificate, without which it will not obtain a final construction license.” Al-Qahtani said some old projects that did not meet environment protection rules were given a grace period to ensure they adhered to the environmental conditions; otherwise they would be fined and finally closed down. He said the PME recently closed down a cement factory in Dammam that was established about three years ago for not adhering to environmental rules. He said the punishments against violating facilities would be increasingly severe. Al-Qahtani said there are environmental problems in some cities such as sewage water leaking into the Red Sea in Jeddah. “Regretfully, these problems will continue until the project to drain sewage water is completed.” He said another environmental problem is the proximity of homes to industrial cities. Al-Qahtani called for planning industrial cities away from residential areas and said the PME would continue its environmental awareness programs among individuals and government and private institutions throughout the year. Undersecretary of the presidency Dr. Saad Al-Mahlafi said there were programs to increase environmental awareness among citizens and expatriates to reduce pollution.
