Okaz/Saudi Gazette BURAIDAH — The old market in Buraidah, which dates back to 150 years, deserves massive development including replacing its dilapidated buildings with modern architectural structures and paving its pathways with tiles considering the large number of people who visit the market every day. Traders have complained that the Qassim governorate and the Buraidah mayoralty have not taken any initiative in recent years to develop the "Interior Market" that houses shops of various commodities including gold, clothes, dates, foodstuffs and vegetables. The market has specialized streets and areas for industrial goods, textiles and restaurants. It's one of the historical regions of Buraidah and houses the Rashid Dome. The dilapidated buildings in the market — some of them aged over 80 — threatens the safety of shoppers and visitors. Abdul Aziz Al-Tuwaijri, a trader of men's essential commodities, said the market required immediate development works. Its streets are narrow and lack parking areas. He urged the municipality to pave the market's streets with tiles to look clean and beautiful. "The municipality should construct resting places in the market for people to take rest and establish attractive models as landmarks," he told Okaz/Saudi Gazette. Al-Tuwaijri accused the mayoralty of totally ignoring the market. "It requires development achieved by Jeddah, Riyadh and Madinah where authorities have turned old areas into beautiful treasures," he said while stressing the need to develop the historical region in Buraidah. Ahmed Al-Dossari, a vegetable trader, said the lack of parking areas have forced shoppers to abandon the market. "We have a huge vegetable market. Its eastern side is allocated for watermelon while there are special areas for onion and potatoes," he added. He called for renovating the market, expanding its streets," said Al-Dossari while stressing the importance of developing the underdeveloped areas around the market. Gold trader Saleh Al-Sulaim urged authorities to develop the old market as early as possible like the historical regions of Riyadh, Jeddah and Madinah as it lacks essential facilities and services. "The mayoralty should move quickly to develop the region," Al-Sulaim said. "There are many buildings made of mud and some of them have collapsed," he said. "I would like to propose erasing of all old buildings to be replaced by modern buildings and to lighten the streets with fawanis, a kind of a lantern popular in Egypt. We can follow the architectural designs of other old markets in the Kingdom," he added.
