Hani Bahsain Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Residents in Jeddah's Kilo 6 area have complained to their local municipality branch that rodents have infested their neighborhood and dug trenches and caves underneath their old houses. Residents have also complained about the many dirt tracks in the neighborhood that remain unpaved. Their complaints included a gas cylinders outlet located in the center of the neighborhood that they said constituted a safety hazard. Hasan Al-Maqadi, a 24-year-old resident, said he was born in the neighborhood and the area's condition has not changed much since his birth, except for an increase in the expatriate population. The neighborhood, he said, has become a safe haven for legal and illegal residents of different nationalities. Most of the residents' complaints focus on the rodents that have infested the neighborhood and reside in trenches underground. The residents have notified local authorities many times, but they were completely ignored for no apparent reason. Al-Maqadi added that alleyways in the neighborhood are dirt tracks and are in dire need of paving. In addition, there are many abandoned houses that are harboring criminals, he claimed. Fellow resident Hamid Al-Shahrani said one of the abandoned houses was set on fire by fireworks some youngsters were playing with. The Civil Defense faced great difficulty in controlling the fire because the roads were narrow and cannot accommodate fire trucks. He said there are many names for the neighborhood, such as Taheniyah (the hole) due to the sunken nature of the neighborhood, and Al-Mashhad because Eid prayers are held there. Al-Shahrani added there was an influx of people of different African nationalities entering the neighborhood, for reasons unknown to him. Many of these are thieves and other criminals, he claimed. Mohammad Hasan, an Egyptian resident in the neighborhood, said some parts of the area are relatively calm and it would be wrong to dismiss the whole neighborhood as bad. He said all of Jeddah's neighborhoods are complaining of a lack of essential services and wondered why the southern neighborhoods of Jeddah were particularly suffering. He added that there were many rundown houses ready to collapse any time and this is something that should not be overlooked. Ezzi Abdullah said the neighborhood's residents have complained many times about the sewage water that runs in the streets, but their complaints were ignored. Such water is a cause of many diseases, in addition to the lack of cleanliness in the alleyways.
