More than 230 violating warehouses discovered

JEDDAH — As many as 234 violating warehouses were discovered in downtown Jeddah in a year, director of Civil Defense Col. Talal Bidaiwi has said, according to local daily Al-Madina on Monday. He said a number of housing units, which were originally rented for accommodation, were made into warehouses where various goods were stored. Bidaiwi said some of the violating stores were discovered by the field inspection tours which the Civil Defense units usually do while others were discovered when they got fires. "This is one of the most intricate and difficult issue facing the Civil Defense," he said. The director said some businessmen try to go over the rules and regulations of the Civil Defense by storing the goods and the products in residential houses. "It is not necessarily that the warehouses are established in complete housing complexes. Sometimes it may be just a housing unit or a single room or a basement," he explained. Bidaiwi said in the month of October alone, 47 violating warehouses were discovered in the downtown districts of Bab Sharif, Hindawiyah, Bab Makkah and others. He said in addition to the field inspections and fires, they come to know about the violating warehouses through information by received from citizens and expatriates. The director said the Civil Defense faces immense difficulties in case of fires because it will be difficult for its equipment to get through because the roads are narrow and the stores have secret back doors. Bidaiwi said the punishment against the violating warehouses includes their closure, the emptying of the goods, disconnecting the electricity and asking the owner to pay fine.