Businessmen and owners of engineering, energy and entertainment companies in the Eastern Province should invest in Makkah and contribute to development programs, Dr. Osama Al-Bar, Makkah Mayor, said here Tuesday. Mayor Al-Bar was addressing a meeting of the the real estate committee in the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Al-Bar, who is also Chairman of the Albalad Alameen Development and Urban Regeneration Company, presented a brief introduction of the company which became operational three years ago. The Eastern Province was chosen to be the first region in the Kingdom to get acquainted with the business activities of the company because the province has a large number of companies such as Aramco. Al-Bar presented statistics showing that over 12 million persons visited Makkah in 2011 while the number of Umrah performers hit 5.2 million. Besides, about 1.8 million pilgrims from abroad performed Haj in the same year, Al-Bar said. The mayor revealed that Albalad Alameen was planning to build an airport city as part of Al-Haramain Train Project whereby visitors can take the train and go straight to the airport. Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, president of the EP Chamber of Commerce and Industry, lauded the project of developing Makkah Gate area and West Makkah which, once completed, will accommodate a large number of citizens. He called upon businessmen to invest in the real estate sector in Makkah. In response, Dr. Ayed Al-Qahtani, chairman of real estate committee in the EP Chamber, called upon concerned authorities to remove obstacles which prevented real estate companies from investing in this vital sector. __
