Izzeddin Ahmed Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — People of Jeddah have been calling for the removal of workshops and factories from residential areas because they pose a hazard to their health and environment. Of 1,052 factories in Jeddah, 572 have been established inside residential areas, according to figures released by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (JCCI) industrial committee. In addition to the factories, there are thousands of workshops in the city that are polluting the environment and disturbing residents. According to the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON), there are 3,660 factories in Saudi Arabia, of which only 40 percent are housed in the country's 14 industrial cities, while 60 percent are inside residential areas. The JCCI's industrial committee said only 480 factories in Jeddah are built inside the industrial city, while the remaining 572 factories are distributed among the city's various residential districts. MODON has allocated 85 million sq. meters of land for the construction of two new industrial cities in Jeddah. One of them is along the Jeddah-Laith road with an area of 80 million sq. meters, of which only 10 million square meters have been developed, while the second is in Asfan that will have an area of 5 million sq. meters. Ayman Sindi, a resident of Jeddah's Al-Bawadi district, said factories and workshops in the residential areas would remain there for years to come until they are shifted to the new industrial cities, contributing to pollution in these areas. He said the pollution would exist even after the factories were removed, because they have produced waste from which harmful gases and bad smells continue to emit. He said though Al-Bawadi is a new district in north Jeddah, it has already been surrounded by workshops from the north and factories from the south. Sindi called for removing all factories and workshops and rehabilitating the district to improve its architectural, social, health and environmental standards. Saleh Al-Sharif, a resident of Al-Samir district in the east of Jeddah, said some foreigners have built marble production and polishing workshops in a number of empty courtyards in the district. He said a number of the workshops were randomly constructed and operating without proper licenses. Fahd Al-Shammari, a resident of the city's Quwaizah district, said the extension of some residential areas meant factories and workshops that were away from residents eventually become surrounded by homes. He urged the local authorities including the governorate, the municipality, and others to deal quickly with this trend and move factories and workshops from residential areas to the industrial cities. “In addition to the noise and dust, the factories constitute a real threat to residents' health.” Saud Al-Bishi, a resident of the Al-Hindawiyah district, said he had heard about the formation of a committee comprising representatives from the Civil Defense, the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment, the JCCI, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Saudi Electricity Company to shift factories and workshops away from the city, but he has not seen any results so far. Chairman of the JCCI's industrial committee Abdulaziz Al-Suraie asked the concerned government departments to prepare suitable locations to which the factories and workshops inside the residential areas would be shifted. “The factories are the responsibility of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, while the workshops fall within the responsibility of the municipality,” he explained. Ali Saeed Al-Ghamdi, undersecretary of the municipality for services, said the municipality is already working on a project with other concerned government departments to develop the residential areas in Jeddah, including facilitating the removal of workshops and factories. He said Al-Nuzha, in north Jeddah, would be the first district from which the factories and workshops will be removed. Al-Ghamdi said there are more than 15,000 workshops inside the populated areas of Jeddah, including 10,000 for car repairs. He added that a new site, about 70 kilometers away from Jeddah, has been prepared for these workshops.
