The Saudi government will pay SR120 billion ($32 billion) to SR130 billion in compensations for the expropriation of real estate in Makkah over the next two years as part of the implementation of mega development projects in the Grand Mosque and the adjoining areas, Saudi Arabic Al Eqtisadiah daily reported Saturday, citing an official. The projects include the construction of roads and train stations on the periphery of the Grand Mosque from many sides and at distances from the Mosque ranging from 350 to 500 meters, Yusuf Al-Ahmadi, member of the Committee for Estimation of Property Values in Makkah, told the paper. The Makkah municipality said that it started demolishing some 1,900 buildings Friday as part of the third phase of a project aiming to develop the northern courtyards of the Grand Mosque, the daily said. Engineer Muhammad Taha Faqih, Assistant Coordinator for the Committee for the Development of the Northern Courtyards, said the demolitions are located within the properties coming in the way of the electricity transformer plant belonging to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Expansion Project for the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the surrounding courtyards. He said the expansion would be used in completing the first ring road extending from Ajyad, via Jabal Al-Ka'bah and Ree' Al-Rassam up to Al-Ghazza Area, Al-Eqtisadia reported. The demolition work was attended by representatives of the Northern Courtyards Committee, the police, services authorities, telecommunications companies and the consultant office for the project. Real estate officials in Makkah said the first and second stage of the demolition work, which started in 2009, have affected 2,350 buildings. Meanwhile, Dr. Osama Al-Bar, Mayor of Makkah, said the scope of the project includes the northern courtyards of the Grand Mosque, beginning with Al-Masjid Al-Haram Street, Al-Ghazza in the east until Jabal Al-Ka'bah Street in the west with a distance of 660 meters from the Holy Ka'bah. This will be in two stages – first, the 100 meters adjacent to the courtyards, before starting the third stage, which started Friday. Officials concerned said the project work will include the construction of three stations for small cars and buses adjacent to the first ring road. They are big stations and will be benefited from now as stations for buses and small cars until the internal train project is completed in Makkah. There will be train stations as well. They said that among these is a station opposite Halaqat Jarwal Tunnel and another behind the King Abdulaziz Endowment, a third near the new tunnel at Harat Al-Bab and an additional station in Al-Ghazza Area. Al-Ahmadi said the amounts would be injected in mega development projects including roads and train stations, which will be available in the surroundings of the Grand Mosque in several directions. “The project is of great national and Islamic importance in order to increase the courtyards surrounding the Grand Mosque and reduce the pressure within the Grand Mosque and its other courtyards as well as contributing to streamlining traffic and pedestrian flow to and from the Grand Mosque,” he added. The projects being witnessed by Makkah will create a flurry of economic activity capable of creating a new kind of mega projects that are able to activate the development plans, he further said.
