Traders hit by fire begin rebuilding

Traders in the Souq have started to rebuild their businesses after their shops were gutted in a fi re in October.

The fire that broke out in a sports shop between Souq Diera and Souq al Aseery raged for hours on October 13, gutting several nearby enterprises and destroying goods worth millions of riyals.

At least 10 major shops selling garments, toys, watches, sports goods, novelty and grocery items and jewellery, among other things were housed in the 20-year old building.

“The unfortunate incident began at my shop, Century Sports,” director Abdul Karim Rahmati said yesterday.

“My shop was totally wrecked with losses running into millions.”

“It completely destroyed my warehouse where inventory was stocked for two shops in the souqs and another one in Al Sadd,” Rahmati said.

“But we will rebuild again what we have lost,” he added.

He put his loss at QR7mn but rued that due to lack of insurance cover he has to start from scratch. “When we contacted the insurance company, we found our policy had expired as of 2007. Obviously, that left us shattered but we plan to rebuild.” The upper floors of some of the affected buildings were being used as stores and workers’ accommodation. The manager of Kabayan Supermarket, which was spared, yesterday said while his residence upstairs was damaged by the fire, maintenance work has forced him to continue living with friends.

“They say it will be completed soon. I paid in advance for the residential unit,” he said. Shopkeepers also suffered for weeks after the fire as customers kept away.

Some of these are popular among the communities to which they cater. The shops next to Century were Santana Boutique, New Way Electronics, Snow White (textile shop), Dar Al Thaqafa Library and several toy shops.

A few have moved to Souq Diera since the incident and placed notices outside their gutted ones.

According to sources yesterday, most of the shops did have insurance cover and are in the process of fi ling claims. Following the incident, the Director General of Public Security, Major General Saad bin Jassim al-Kholeifi , said the old souq area needed to be revamped and rebuilt to comply with new safety standards.