Okaz/Saudi Gazette MAKKAH —A total of 40 gas stations reopened for business on Sunday after their owners settled a lawsuit against the municipality for shutting them down. A source said the municipality had shut down a number of gas stations during an inspection campaign months ago. "The municipality ran an inspection campaign two years ago and recorded a number of violations committed by gas station owners or workers. The municipality gave the gas station owners a timeframe of two years to rectify their status and prevent violations from happening again," said the source. The source added the municipality then ran another inspection campaign to see if the notified and marked gas stations have rectified their status or not. "The municipality applied its regulations in shutting down the gas stations which did not comply with its notice within the given timeframe. "A number of gas station owners protested against the decision to shut the stations down and filed a lawsuit at the Administrative Court against the municipality," said the source. The source said the owners were demanding that their gas stations remain open and they were also demanding compensation for their losses due to the shutdown of their stations. "The owners claim that they do not object the violation notices issued by the municipality but they find the procedure to rectify these notices impractical. They claimed the municipality required from them to renovate the buildings and floors but it only allowed them to contract with a very limited number of companies," said the source. The source also said the gas station owners had to pay the salaries of their employees for the past four months. "The gas station owners had to pay the salaries of more than 3,000 workers from their own pockets with no income for four months. The total losses the gas station owners endured during the shutdown reached up to SR50 million," said the source. Investor Khalifah Al-Atawi said the companies the municipality approves of have no desire in investing in more than one gas stations every 100 km. "The number of gas stations in the city is over 200. The number is too large for the limited number of five companies. The municipality is to blame for being six years late on drawing the city's blueprint. "Now that some areas were considered part of the main city and others are outlines as neighboring villages, the companies are not interested in investing in gas stations located at the outskirts of the city and near the villages," said Al-Atawi.
