Gulf Construction Online

Saudi Review

Update

01 March 2004

$533m redevelopment planned
Makkah: Saudi authorities are planning a $533 million redevelopment of a site where Muslim pilgrims flock to stone pillars symbolising Satan.

The move has been initiated following the recent deaths of 251 people in a stampede during the Haj pilgrimage.
The project – the first phase of a plan drawn up by the municipal affairs ministry – includes building four-storey bridges over the area to boost capacity to 160,000 people, Al Madinah daily said.
One bridge already exists over the 272-m wide area to try to ease the crush of the faithful.
The report said the site would have 11 entrances and 12 exits. Routes would be built to keep vehicles separate from pilgrims on foot and the circular basins around the pillars would be turned into ovals.
After the recent tragedy, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahad bin Abdul Aziz Al Saudi issued a royal decree covering a 20-year project to be undertaken by a body chaired by the Municipal and Rural Affairs Minister.

Jeddah to get 225-bed hospital
Jeddah: A 225-bed ultra-modern private hospital is coming up in Jeddah. The hospital, initiated by four Saudi businessmen, will have three tower buildings with 152 rooms and royal suites.
“It’s designed to look like an impressive cultural monument in Jeddah,” Oghaid Damashqiya, director of the project, said.
The hospital will have the latest medical equipment and facilities and will be linked by satellite with advanced medical centres all over the world.
Covering an area of 35,000 sq m, the hospital will have an underground parking area for 500 cars, in addition to parking facilities around the building. The hospital will be ready in 2006.

10-storey buildings planned at Mina
Makkah: Plans are under way to construct 10-storey residential buildings on the mountains of Mina outside Makkah. The buildings will be part of the government’s efforts to house more pilgrims in the tent city where they stay for four days during the annual pilgrimage.
Authorities have approved the project to be carried out by the Pensions Department and the General Organisation for Social Insurance. The new buildings will be located in the Majr Al Kabsh region, close to the Jamrat (stoning area) in Mina.
“The first phase of the project will be implemented soon,” said Muhammad Al Kharrashi, director of the Pensions Department. He said the two organisations had entered into a partnership to construct the buildings. “We have allocated more than SR250 million for the project,” Kharrashi said, adding that the two institutions would have equal shares in the project.
“The project’s first phase will help house more than 500,000 pilgrims,” he said. There will be a prayer hall and a lecture hall on every floor. There will be electronic stairways, emergency exits, model restaurants, commercial centers and health centers at the facility.
Present tents in the Majr Al Kabsh region will be removed in order to create more space around the buildings and in the stoning area.

Saudi plans six more desal plants
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia is to build six new desalination plants, taking the total number of such plants in the Kingdom to 36.
Four of them, for the production of both drinking water and electricity, will cost SR20 billion ($5.3 billion), said deputy water and electricity minister Abdullah Al Hussain. The six desalination plants would be set up in Farsan, Qunfudah, Al Laith, Rabiq, Al Wajea and Al Umlaj said Al Hussain, who is also the governor of Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC).
He made the announcement at a two-day forum on desalination and water treatment technology held under the auspices of the corporation.
A large number of Saudi and joint venture firms participated in the show, which featured locally manufactured spare parts required by the desalination and water treatment industries.
The biggest desalination plant in the Kingdom is the SR3.71 billion Al Shuaiba plant, whose production capacity in the second phase will rise to 150 million cu m from 24.6 million cu m in the first phase.
At the event, Bushnak Group chairman Dr Adil Bushnak said Saudi Arabia’s desalination industry needed to improve its technological skills before going ahead with the manufacture of certain spare parts, especially membranes.