JEDDAH — Citizens have claimed the Jeddah Municipality branches are a “waste” of the municipality's budget, Al-Madina reported. Rayan Al-Otaibi said there is no point in having municipality branches because they constantly refer their visitors to the main office. He said: “The way Jeddah Municipality is operating is very centralized. The municipality's branches are in every neighborhood but they barely have any authority. Moreover, whatever civil services they are supposed to offer are taken over by local investments and the private sector.” He added the municipality should either give the secondary offices more authority or scrap them. Mohammad Asiri said he went to the municipality to review his construction license. He said: “I applied for a construction license to an architecture office three months ago. Every time I would ask them about it they would tell me the municipality hasn't approved it yet. When I would visit the municipality's branch in my neighborhood, they would ask me to go to the main office.” Architect and architecture office owner Yahya Kowshak said the centralized way the municipality was operating is hindering his business. “The branches can't even issue a construction license and the employees at the main office are very limited. The employees at the branches are not even authorized to run inspection campaigns. “We would have to wait for the main office to be available in order to ensure our projects are not violating any regulations.” Abdullah Al-Hajini said there is an open manhole right next to his house and the authorities have not closed it. He said: “It is obstructing traffic. “I visited the municipality's office in my neighborhood to complain but nothing happened. I even reported the incident to the municipality but had to come all the way to the main office to get any answers.” He added when he went to the main office the security guards told him there were not any parking spaces available for his car. “I had to park it outside under the sun. I saw the parking lot and there were spaces. It's just that they are saving these spaces for the employees. “What about the citizen?”
