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The city of Jeddah, which is located on the coast of the Red Sea, was founded as a fishing hamlet 2000 years ago. Due to its closeness with Islam’s holy city of Makkah, in 647AD Jeddah turned into a port for Muslims taking part in the annual rituals associated with Hajj.
With a current population of more than 3.4 million, Jeddah comprises a number of impressive features including an 80km corniche along the coastline, as well as the King Abdulaziz University, which 37,000 students attend; and King Abdulaziz International Airport, the country’s third largest airport, which has a specially built terminal for pilgrims destined for Makkah.
Because of the major problems of congestion during Hajj, when over three million people travel to the region, a new railway line will be constructed, which is intended to cut the five hour car journey to Makkah to just half an hour.
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Greenlight for new infrastructure projects
Vehicles have started to cross the newly completed Jeddah flyover at the intersection between Muhammad (Tahliah) Street and Prince Miteb (Arbaeen) Street.
The US $5.1 million (SAR19.3 million) project started in January 2008 and consists of 3.3m-wide lanes in both directions.
Ahmad Banafa, general supervisor of projects at the Jeddah municipality, which awarded the contracts for the infrastructure projects, told Arab News that the opening of the flyover was delayed by a month due to unexpected circumstances relating to lack of communication between clients.
There are 18 ongoing road development projects including Quraish Street along King Fahd Road, which are estimated to cost $266.7 million, according to deputy mayor for construction projects Ibrahim Kutubkhanah.
“Projects currently under bid are estimated at $293.7 billion while 35 projects worth $801 million are still in the design phase,” said Kutubkhanah.
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