New Metro System for Makkah & New Airport for Madinah

Saudi Arabia Prepares $27bn revamp for Makkah

Makkah governor Prince Khaled Al-Faisal has emphasized the need for preparing a well thought out and comprehensive development plan for Makkah to make it one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Saudi Arabia is planning to spend $27bn on transforming the city of Makkah via a model that will be the development for other urban centres in the country.

Arab News reported that the Holy Makkah Comprehensive Plan is being drafted by the Commission for the Development of Makkah and the Holy Sites and should be ready “by the beginning of next year”.

Four consulting and planning groups are currently working on the draft. The groups include local entities, such as government bodies that have a direct link to Makkah services, international planning experts and consultative companies.

Although the draft plan is not yet complete, some work is already being carried out.

“One of the important ones is the Fourth Ring Road project that will link the city’s main areas with a surrounding road. On that road, two projects are being executed to connect Makkah’s southern and western areas to the Jeddah highway,” Osama Al Bar, Makkah’s mayor, told the paper.

Other current work includes the construction of new municipal buildings and pedestrian bridges.
Makkah will also be the first Saudi city to have a metro system. Construction work on this project is already in progress, and is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2011.
Prince Khaled Al Faisal told top executives that a new transport system and would allow even more pilgrims to visit the Grand Mosque in the coming years.

“We have completed two years of the plan that begins from the Holy Kaaba, which receives millions of faithful every year,” the governor pointed out, stressing the need to implement all transportation projects in the city in an integrated manner linking them with road networks of Jeddah and Taif.

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New terminal of Madinah airport to be ready by October
Taken from Arab News by P. K Adbul Ghafour, Aug 10, 2010

JEDDAH: The new passenger terminal at Prince Muhammad International Airport in Madinah will be completed by the first week of October, according to Madinah Gov. Prince Abdul Aziz bin Majed.

Speaking to reporters after inspecting expansion projects at the airport on Tuesday, he said: “Prince Muhammad Airport will witness qualitative development in the coming days. We have instructed the officials to carry out the project in the best way.”

He said the new terminal would be able to accommodate more domestic flights.

The first phase of the ongoing expansion project would be completed by 2014 to increase the airport’s annual capacity to 25 million passengers. The General Authority of Civil Aviation designed the project, taking into consideration the growing number of Haj and Umrah pilgrims visiting the city.

Prince Abdul Aziz also inspected the expansion of the eastern courtyard of the Prophet’s Mosque. The new expansion covering 37,000 square meters provides additional place for 70,000 worshippers.

The mosque expansion ordered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah was carried out at a cost of SR4.7 million. The project included installation of 250 sunshades in courtyards around the mosque for the benefit of 200,000 worshippers. A single sunshade covers an area of 576 square meters.

The governor, who was accompanied by Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Faleh, deputy chairman of the Presidency for Prophet’s Mosque Affairs, also inspected the new transport system near the mosque including parking facilities.

With the completion of the project, all residential areas of old Madinah became part the mosque complex. According to researcher Tandheeb Al-Fayedi, the expansion has covered the whole old Madinah.

“Some buildings that sprouted 100 years ago outside the old city have been added to the new complex,” he added. Souk Al-Manakha, an important market since olden times and which begins from Ghamama Mosque to Sabaq Mosque, has been included in the expansion.

Some of the old residential districts that are included in the new expansion are: Harrat Aghwat in the east of Haram, Bab Al-Majeedi in the north, Bab Al-Salam in the west, and Hammam Taiba in the south.

Meanwhile, Abdul Wahid Al-Hattab, spokesman of the Prophet’s Mosque, said Tuesday that Sheikh Ali Al-Hudaifi, Sheikh Salah Al-Bedair, Sheikh Hussein Al-Asheikh and Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Qasim would lead taraweeh prayers at the mosque during Ramadan.