Residents of neighborhoods in the vicinity of Jeddah's Al-Yumana market have voiced their concern at the number of food and vegetable stalls randomly erected on the pavements of its main thoroughfare. Locals say the market's neighboring alleyways are being used as waste dumps and that the stalls are often left uncovered, resulting in the increased presence of disease-transmitting mosquitoes as well as making the area unsightly. The stalls are reportedly owned by illegal workers who do not abide by health regulations. “Garbage is dumped everywhere around the market and vegetables and other food are piling up,” said local resident Waleed Babgi. “Some African vendors sell food in unhygienic conditions.” “Residents have registered numerous complaints to the municipality, but when they send people to investigate the stall owners and their stalls disappear,” Babgi said. “But they always come back.” Wadee'a Abu Al-Hamayel, head of the Al-Balad District municipality, said the municipality regularly carried out inspections and cleaning of the market, and also sprayed it with insecticides. “But the problem is that when we return the next day we find it has gone back to the way it was,” Al-Hamayel said. “We've confiscated many truck loads of vegetables and fruit, but the illegal workers come back to the same location to engage in the same illegal activities in broad daylight.” Al-Hamayel said that the Passports Department needed to intensify its campaigns to apprehend and deport illegal vendors.
