Traders and shop owners in the historical region of Jeddah have protested the slow pace of pavement work on Al-Aidarous Street and said the delay in completing the project has caused them heavy losses as customers cannot reach their shops. They said the closure of Al-Aidarous Street in Bab Makkah area by the contractor for 30 days affected business in more than 35 shops on the street with their combined loss reaching SR5 million. An official of the contracting company said work on the project was progressing well and would be completed as per schedule within two weeks. Hussein Ahmed Baroom, owner of a textile shop, said: "We were happy when the municipality decided to pave the street with tiles thinking it would give their market a new look. But the street's closure for more than a month by the contractor has affected our business as customers cannot reach our shops and truck drivers cannot deliver stocks," he said. "We have been making a revenue of SR5,000 daily before the street's closure and now sales have declined by 60 percent," Baroom told Al-Madinah Arabic daily. Hamoud Baider, another shop owner on the street, also complained about the decline in the number of customers as a result of ongoing construction work. "We are not against the project as we believe that it would serve the region and support its business. But we are worried about the slow pace of work. The contractor should have finished the work at the entrance of the market first. Unfortunately, he is carrying out the work in a disorganized manner. This has affected our business," he explained. Anwar Ahmed, another trader, spoke about the heavy losses incurred by the slow implementation of the project. "The spread of dust from the construction work has ruined our products," he said while indicating that the project has also affected the air-conditioning system of shops. Hassan Dawood, supervisor of the contracting company, said quick implementation of the project was impossible as it required various measures including soil testing. "It will take two more weeks to complete the project before reopening Al-Aidarous Street for traffic," he told the Arabic daily.
