Shop owners complain about road diversions

Abdulmohsen Alsabti
Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Traders who own shops along roads being diverted complained about the extended time of months, if not years, for completing projects.

They said the closure of these roads had dried up all their businesses as customers find it difficult to stop over for shopping.

The owners of shops along the flood canal at Al-Rawabi district said they had raised the issue with the responsible officials at Rawabi’s municipality branch but no action has been taken yet.

Ibrahim Qurban, an upholsterer, said, “We pushed for the expansion of the canal. But we have never thought even in our wildest dream that the construction work will continue for months, if not years.”

Because of the construction his customers went elsewhere causing him huge losses. He said the vendors who usually supply the upholstery fabric and textile stopped visiting because of the continued diggings and diversions.
Abdul Aziz Al-Nahari, spokesman for Jeddah mayoralty, said the mayoralty had nothing to do with this project, as it did not fall under its jurisdiction.

Jameel Naji, who deals in spare parts, said, “The company’s representative told me he could visit me only three times a week because the road works force him to take a long time to get here. This made me lose most of my customers because I don’t have enough stock to meet their requirements.”

He said he was aware of the fact that these projects were in the public interest but he does believe that there are solutions to avert these huge losses such as establishing a deadline for the projects. “I need not mention that most of the projects in Jeddah exceeded the deadline and turned to be faltering projects.”

Abdullah Gumeish, who operates a vehicle maintenance workshop, said because of the endless diggings most of his customers stopped coming to him, and that at best he has two or three customers per week.
He attributed this to the improper detours.