A government committee assigned to inspect hotels in the coastal city has sealed off one of the oldest hotels in Jeddah downtown Thursday. The hotel was evacuated of its guests. The committee, composed of the Civil Defense, Commerce Department, Mayoralty, and Electricity Company, also warned other hotels for failing to implement safety regulations as well as operating without license. Jeddah downtown, a regularly frequented area by both tourists and residents, houses more than 50 hotels, representing 60 percent of the total number of hotels in Jeddah. Jeddah downtown hotels are mostly small ones which have been open for over 30 years. But it has taken the committee nine months of inspection to find out the dilapidated hotels which would constitute an eminent danger for guests. A source at the Civil Defense said the inspection tours showed that some of the hotels are no longer good to operate as far as safety is concerned. He pointed out that the Civil Defense inspection team found that the location of these hotels makes it difficult to build emergency exits and also discovered that some of the roofs of these hotels are made of wood which would increase the probability of collapse. Brigadier Muhammed Al-Ghamdi, Director of the Civil Defense in Jeddah said the Civil Defense shut down five hotels in Jeddah for operating their businesses without license. Many of the hotels were private homes turned into a lucrative hotel business without having approval from the government. – Okaz __
