DOHA: Consumers and local residents of Al Khor city are complaining against sharp increase in prices of fish in absence of effective monitoring by concerned authorities, including the Consumer Protection Department, a consumer watchdog arm at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, local Arabic daily reported yesterday.
Consumers say that an unprecedented growth in population in the local area, largely due to the illegal practice of sub-letting business both for housing units and shops, especially in the fish market, have pushed the rentals for shops many fold, forcing some traders to pass the burden on customers.
“Price of fish in Al Khor remains high throughout the year. I never noticed any fluctuation in the prices of fish here unlike other markets in the country, which is largely because of high rentals as result of sub-letting of shops,” Mohammed Al Misnad, a Qatari resident of Al Khor city was quoted as saying by the daily.
Al Misnad noted that it is the responsibility of the concerned authorities, including the local municipality officials, to crackdown on people, who are involved in sub-letting of shops at exorbitant prices, to bring them to the book.
“Shops with an official rent of QR2,000 are being re-rented at much higher prices, sometimes as high as between QR5,000 and QR7,000. This is quite obvious that such traders will shift the burden of high rent on customers,” he said.
Another citizen Saad Al Saadi, questioning about the discriminatory pricing policy of shops, said: “Rents for shops in Al Khor fish market is QR2, 000, which is the highest in the country. But rents for similar shops in other parts of the country such as Doha, Al Wakra and Al Shamaal municipalities are as low as QR500, QR300, and QR100, respectively.”
He said that already the rents are the highest in Al Khor, and sub-letting of shops has made the situation worse. Playing devil’s advocate on the part of fish traders, he said: “Just imagine a small shopkeeper who has to pay QR7,000 rents, in addition to the salary of staff, every month; what do you expect him to do.”
Mubark Al Hameedi, lambasting at the consumer watchdog for being inefficient, said: “There is no shortage in supplies, yet the prices go through the roof. Some of the varieties such as Hamour and Kanat go over QR60 per KG. Where is CPD, what are they doing?”
The report said that due to the thriving partition business of housing units for sub-letting, the population of the area has grown exponentially in a very short span of time, and the occupants of these “pigeonholes”, mostly being limited income foreign construction workers, flock to the fish market, especially on weekends, pushing the prices skyrocketing.
Saad Al Mohannadi, another citizen, suggested: “Like vegetables, prices of fish should also be fixed by the government so that traders cannot increase them arbitrarily.”
The Peninsula
