Hussein Hazzazi Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The district chief (umdah) of the eastern Al-Bagdadiyah District stands outside his office in the area every day looking at the street lighting, which has not been working for a whole year. This is despite Fawaz Salamah's great efforts to get the municipality to make them work again. Salamah said: “We also have to deal with the fallout that has resulted from this negligence. “The rate of burglaries of homes and shops has increased. “The burglars exploit the darkness in the streets to steal.” The umdah said in their theft and burglary reports police officers have demanded the installation of streetlights. However, even their demands have gone unheard. Salamah said he has submitted many reports, including one to the office of Jeddah Mayor Hani Aburas. Meanwhile, Abdulaziz Al-Ruwaished, local resident, said the street lampposts are there and in a good condition but this does not help when they are not switched on. He said: “The district is in need of speedy intervention by the municipality to force the company responsible for the street lighting to carry out maintenance on them.” Al-Ruwaished said it is necessary to protect the district from burglaries, especially shops. Farid Al-Abdullah, another resident, said since the expiration of the contract of the previous maintenance company which had maintained the street lighting for nearly 20 years, the streets are now in total darkness because the new company has not taken any action. He added that the new maintenance company has taken over work in the district but is not doing a good job. Salim Al-Bishri, a resident, said street lights have not undergone maintenance. He said many lampposts have become old and he wrote to the municipality many times but did not receive any response. He hoped that his area would be maintained and well lit in the near future before anti-social and criminal activities become rife in the district. Okaz/Saudi Gazette contacted Jeddah Municipality about the reasons for the lack of lighting and poor maintenance of lampposts. Municipality spokesman Abdulaziz Al-Ghamdi said maintenance contracts were signed in 2013 and other contracts signed this year to maintain street lighting in north and west Jeddah. These were in addition to the previous signed maintenance agreements. He conceded there are some problems at some locations with regard to street lighting and expressed hope that they would be dealt with soon.
