Jeddah municipality urged to regulate fish market parking

Saudi fish traders at the Central Fish Market in Jeddah have called on the local municipality to sort out the “chaotic” parking system at the market and to provide stalls at a lower cost to citizens.
Faisal Suleiman, who inherited the profession from his father who started practicing the trade 70 years ago, is one of the oldest Saudi traders at the market. He has been running a fish restaurant in the Balad District for the past 25 years.
He called on the Jeddah municipality to regulate the parking system. If the municipality cannot do it, then they should hand it over to a security company, he said.
“Our job requires us to go to the market every day at dawn. When I get out of the market with the fish, I have to wait for hours as other cars block the exit.
This way, the fish would rot.” He said other customers have the same problem.
Some of the market’s few Saudi traders are old and very poor and have to spread sheeting on the ground to sell fish. They cannot afford to pay the fees for municipal licenses.
Expatriate traders dominate the market, also known as Bangla Market, he said. Saudis account for 20 percent of the traders.
He appealed to the authorities to provide stalls at nominal rates to Saudi traders so that they can trade legally.
Suleiman said he was satisfied with the hygiene standards of the fish market. There were also sufficient facilities to clean fish.
Spokesman of the municipality Abdul Aziz Al-Nahari said the municipality has a supervisory role at the fish market and has awarded the running of the car park and cleaning duties to a Saudi contractor. Municipal officials and cleaning supervisors monitor the market regularly, he said.