Al-Hadid explained on Monday that some roads were witnessing the closure of an entire lane due to obstacles, which affected traffic, noting that their removal contributed to improving traffic flow.
Al-Hadid stressed that repeated violations require legal action against violators, based on the system of preventing nuisances in effect in the Municipality, including imposing fines on those who re-place obstacles in the cleaned sites.
He emphasized that sidewalks are the right of pedestrians, and placing obstacles or barriers to reserve public parking is a violation, calling on shop owners and citizens to comply with laws and instructions and not to seize positions reserved for the service of all.
The Municipality continues its field campaigns to remove attacks and encroachments on sidewalks and streets, in response to complaints and in coordination with the administrative governor, concerned authorities, and security agencies, while removal and random inspection teams monitor sites that witness violations.
The Municipality is also working in parallel to rehabilitate sidewalks in residential and commercial areas to provide safe and connected pedestrian paths, especially for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, and to reduce their need to use the street due to obstacles.
Rehabilitation works include repairing old sidewalks and improving pedestrian path connectivity, studying sites that allow technical and regulatory conditions for sidewalk expansion, in addition to removing vehicle parking on sidewalks, barriers, stalls, commercial expansions, and using pedestrian paths as private or valet parking services.
Regarding trees and plants that impede pedestrian movement, the Municipality deals with them according to a technical evaluation of each site, giving priority to preserving them whenever possible, pruning obstructive branches when pruning is sufficient to secure the path, and relocating trees or plants that allow it, while removal is limited to cases where a safe path cannot be provided by other means.
Rehabilitation works also include returning sites to their appropriate condition after removing obstacles, and considering the selection of planting sites and types of trees suitable for available spaces when creating new or developing sidewalks.
The Municipality emphasizes the continued application of the sidewalk system and the procedures adopted against illegal encroachments, monitoring sites to prevent the recurrence of encroachments, along with monitoring cases of reserving public positions or preventing citizens from using them in front of shops and establishments, taking into account private and designated positions and traffic restrictions in effect.
