Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – The menace of vehicles turned into scrap and abandoned by their owners is not only affecting the environment, but also present an an ugly picture of the Bride of the Read Sea. The unclaimed and damaged motor vehicles parked haphazardly on the roadside also obstruct pedestrian movement and shrink the parking space.

The abandoned vehicles in public space, parking lots and in front of residential homes especially in narrow lanes of central and southern parts of the city also pose environment hazard. Children, who play near abandoned cars, are being affected by dust.

Also there is a dangerous possibility of fires breaking out as fuel is still inside these vehicles.

The vehicles, often beyond repair with parts missing and glasses, wind shields broken also have nuisance slogans written on them.

Many of these vehicles have no number plates thus making it difficult to trace their owners.

After observation, traders of scrap vehicles generally stick a note on such vehicles by offering prices and also municipal authorities paste warning notices upon them.

Despite constant efforts by the authorities to eliminate the nuisance of abandoned cars, the phenomenon still prevails in the city.

The abandoned cars not only pose environment and parking problem but it pose serious challenge to owners especially in case if they are expatriates as it can stall their final exit process.

Some hundreds of expatriates have failed to avail the humanitarian gesture of Saudi Arabia in the form of amnesty for illegal residents as they were having some old cars which were abandoned and not traceable.

A committee, comprising representatives from Jeddah Municipality, traffic police and police, is tasked with removing abandoned vehicles after due verification of mechanism and a time-bound plan.

This year, the Jeddah Municipality has verified 31,000 abandoned vehicles, according to an official statement.

It was able to remove 13,000 cars out of 31,000 during last Hijri year, said municipal officials who are looking after removal of cars.

The committee has shifted some vehicles to scrapyard in Bariman area in East Jeddah after due mechanism of verification and later it will sell them as scrap after failure of their owners to come up with their claims.