Izzeddin Ahmad Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – A comprehensive plan aims at ensuring growth of Jeddah as a world-class sustainable city within the coming 25 years is underway, according to a senior official. As part of this, the third phase of drainage projects for Jeddah region will start soon, said Ahmad Al-Sulaim, director general of drainage projects at Makkah governorate. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Al-Sulaim said that reviewing tenders for the projects to protect Jeddah's urban population from dangers of flooding up to the Hijri year of 1450 is progressing well. “Technical evaluation of the project has already been completed and the financial evaluation is going on. As part of the project, a comprehensive social and environmental plan is also being prepared for the first time,” he said. Al-Sulaim said the new projects included 37 km flood canal in Wadi Al-Khumra as well as a project for unprotected valleys east of Jeddah including raising the capacity of check dams and construction of 14 pedestrian bridges. “Nearly 80 percent of the airport drainage project with a length of more than 46,000 meter pipelines has been completed. Work is underway to draw a blueprint for main rainwater drainage network for the residential regions of the city,” he said, pointing out that the project will be unique in its quality, cost of operation, and period of implementation. Jeddah's permanent drainage solution projects were completed last year. The projects included five dams with a total length of 2500 meters and a total capacity of over 24 million cubic meters, and seven reserve dams with a total length of 1800 meters. Earlier in December 2011, a total of 14 emergency projects to deal with rainwaters and flashfloods were completed.
According to Al-Sulaim, the proposed social and environmental plan, which will cover the entire Jeddah region, will be implemented in cooperation with the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME). Al-Sulaim said Jeddah's dream project of King Abdullah Sports City will be ready by the end of 2013. “A total of 8400 workers have so far spent 12 million work hours in implementing this sprawling architectural marvel, spread over an area of three million square meters. The stadium will have the capacity to accommodate 60,000 spectators. The city would also house an indoor stadium with a capacity for 10,000 people, a special area with 308 seats for people with special needs, 18 cabins with a seating capacity for 300 people, two big screens, in addition to mosques inside and outside the stadium.
