SAUDI ARABIA

Abandoned cars a blot on the face of Jeddah

7,489 vehicles impounded in the last three months

April 03, 2018

Irfan Mohammed

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH
— The Jeddah Municipality has lately been focusing on the beautification of the city and has intensified a campaign to educate the public about the importance of clean vehicles and not leaving them unattended for long periods. The abandoned vehicles distort the civilized appearance of the city.

The campaign is part of a municipality drive to target abandoned vehicles. This is essential, the municipality claims, to enforcing laws governing the appearance and beautification of the city.

Officials have removed 7,489 abandoned vehicles during the last three months, the Jeddah Municipality said.

“Our campaign is continuing to tow and remove abandoned vehicles and we request owners of such vehicles to voluntarily remove the vehicles,” Mohammed Al-Boqmi, spokesperson of Jeddah Municipality, said in a recent statement.

The municipality, he said, will initiate penal action against errant vehicle owners.

As regards the official procedures, he said the municipality issues official notice to offenders through affixing them on violating vehicles for a certain period of time. Later, traffic police would alert vehicle owners through SMS.

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

The offending vehicles are being towed away to the impounding yard in Bariman area in East Jeddah. Later they will be sold as a scrap after failure of their owners to claim their vehicles and pay penalties.

The menace of scrapped vehicles abandoned by their owners in the city is affecting the environment and implies an ugly appearance to the city. The unclaimed and damaged motor vehicles parked haphazardly on the roadside also obstruct pedestrian movement and shrink parking space.

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 and hinders movement of residents. The children, who play near abandoned cars, are being affected by dust. Also there is a possibility of vehicles catching fire due to the fuel inside them.

Some vehicles which are often beyond repair and with certain parts and glasses missing and 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.

The abandoned cars not only pose environment and parking problem but are a serious challenge to their owners, especially if they are expatriates, as they can hinder the final exit process.


April 03, 2018
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