Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs has warned four municipalities in the country against the increasing number of dengue fever cases in their cities, Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The ministry called on the municipalities to take drastic measures to stop the spread of dengue fever to other cities and areas.

Sources told Al-Hayat that the four cities were Jazan, Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah. The ministry urged the four municipalities to impose heavy fines on the owners of buildings where leaking water and overflowing sewage formed pools in the streets.

Jeddah Municipality held a meeting with several government agencies to discuss the challenges and problems it faced in efforts to fight dengue fever.

On the other hand, Makkah Municipality signed an agreement with a specialized company to implement a three-year project aiming to fight mosquitoes causing dengue fever in the holy city and its suburbs. The cost of the project exceeds SR120 million.

The project comes in line with the municipality's plans to increase hygiene and protect the environment as well as eradicate insects.

The municipality also signed another contract to fight epidemics for a period of one month at a cost of SR962,000..

The National Water Company has recently implemented the first phase of the operation projects aiming to increase the efficiency of sewage networks at Ghulail and Baghdadia neighborhoods. The project will increase the efficiency of sewage networks in order to meet the increasing number of residents.

The company will implement soon similar projects in the Historical Area, Petromin District, Al-Qurayyat, Madain Al-Fahd and Al-Waziriyah.

The upcoming projects will help reduce the overflow of sewage in many of the districts and will reduce the reliance on water trucks by residents.