Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Residents of Al-Rawdah district in northwest Jeddah have called upon the authorities to close down the operations of a contracting company inside the neighborhood, citing the spread of respiratory diseases among women, children and the elderly.

The company operates day and night causing disturbances to residents and spreading dust. It has stored sand and other building materials and parked heavy vehicles and equipment inside the district.

The company’s vehicles move around the neighborhood damaging the streets, the residents said.

They expressed their surprise at the municipality’s decision to allow the company to operate freely inside a residential district.

The company has its headquarters on Hisham Al-Adwi Street. Residents say they want the municipality to take punitive action against the company.

Ayman Al-Rabighi said the contracting company should shift its headquarters to a place away from residential areas to protect public health. The company and its equipment and trucks have tarnished the image of Al-Rawdah, one of the posh districts in Jeddah, he added.

Al-Rabighi has noted that the company operates late in the night causing disturbances to residents. “We are unable to sleep well as a result of the continuous noise,” he added.

Ahmed Al-Harbi threatened to take legal action against the company, which has transformed the district’s open areas into a storage facility for sand and mud without considering the damage to environment and people living in the neighborhood.

“I believe the company was exploiting the absence of monitoring by the municipality. In the beginning it put a fence around the storage and later it removed that fence when it knew that no one was monitoring,” he said.

He urged the authorities to take immediate action to shift the company to a far off place, away from residential areas and ask it to pay compensations to residents.

“Most residents keep their doors and windows closed to protect their family members from dust raised by the company,” Al-Harbi told Okaz/Saudi Gazette.

“The company has been operating in the night to escape from municipality supervisors and this situation has caused sleepless nights to the residents of the district,” he added.