Municipality moves to curb Karantina’s illegal market

Traveling women vendors at the weekly Jumaa market in Karantina district are selling food items, including products like infants’ milk, that are nearing or past the expiration dates.
The conditions are so bad that the Jeddah Municipality is working with the Police and Passport Department to curb the illegal sale and clean up the neighborhood.
The market is a magnet for poor expatriate workers looking for cheap products. However, the sellers’ hygiene, the filthy conditions of the neighborhood and the poor quality of the food items have alarmed city officials.
Many vendors squat on the pavement in unhygienic conditions selling cooking oil and other food products with expiration dates exceeding two years, the Arab News has found.
At that market one can buy body creams and shampoos, used clothes that could transmit diseases, and used furniture and electronics unfit for use. Yet thousands of buyers shop at the market each week despite authorities’ warnings.
Abdulaziz Al-Nahari, spokesman for Jeddah Mayor’s Office, said the municipality is coordinating with the Police and the Passports Department to support municipal inspectors prevent illegal in the market.
Al-Nahari said every week the municipality dispatches 50 cleaning workers and eight vehicles to clean the market’s location.
The mayoralty is also coordinating with police to check the location of the weekly market every Friday morning over the next three weeks.
He said that a constant security presence is required to prevent the activities of illegal workers, unlicensed vendors and those overstaying in the country and violating its residency regulations.
The police presence from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. would lead to an eventual reduction of illegal goods selling, he said.