Members of the Municipal Council have called on Jeddah Mayoralty to intensify supervision of the central fruit and vegetable market and check on price tampering by traders ahead of Ramadan. Hussein Ba'aqeel, Chairman of the Municipal Council in Jeddah, accompanied by Hassan Al-Zahrani, Deputy Chairman of the Municipal Council, and Ahmad Banajeh, a member of the council, made an inspection tour of the central fruit and vegetable market in Al-Safa District and the new market east of the highway on Thursday. They checked the hygienic conditions, prices of vegetables and fruits and listened to the suggestions of consumers, salesmen and traders. Following the tour, Ba'aqeel said that there has been a considerable drop in the hygienic condition. He also stressed the need to set up a specialist laboratory to periodically test fruits and vegetables to ensure their conformity with health standards. Ba'aqeel bemoaned the lack of sufficient supervisory staff to monitor prices and their manipulations by certain expatriate staff. In its upcoming meetings, Ba'aqeel said, the Municipal Council would discuss the public benefit markets. The council would write to Jeddah Mayoralty with its suggestions “so as to upgrade Jeddah's markets to convert them into markets of international standard,” he said. The markets now, he said are unhygienic, crowded and not suitable for families.
