The cities in Makkah Region will be converted into smart cities fully equipped with the latest available modern technologies, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah Region, said here on Sunday. Talking to Okaz after a tour of Khozam Project in the city, Prince Khaled reiterated that the public and private sector should work hand-in-hand in the development projects of the Kingdom. King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has been repeatedly advocating cooperation between the public and the private sector in all the developmental projects across the Kingdom, the Emir said. The said cooperation, Prince Khaled said, has already been proved beneficial and he cited the project for development and treatment of unplanned districts in Makkah Province. The participation of the two sectors is the pillar of this development, the Emir said. He added that they were now at the first stage of the start of developing unplanned districts in Jeddah and the Executive Committee overseeing the project meets periodically to follow up work progress. The project covers four unplanned districts – Al-Balad, Al-Sabeel, Qasr Khuzam Area and Al-Nuzla. “When the project starts and can be seen by citizens they would realize how these unplanned districts have been converted into modern areas fully equipped with all the sophisticated technology providing a decent life for the citizens in the region. Prince Khaled said the citizens would realize the importance of this project which has socio-economic and cultural aspects. It will achieve a qualitative change for the man in Jeddah city. “Residents of these districts would find themselves shifting from areas totally isolated from man's needs in this age to modern constructions in districts fully equipped with the required infrastructure, schools, hospitals, parks and all the other modern means,” he said. “I believe the coming ten years would witness a big qualitative change in the region and achieve everybody's dreams in living in districts making them feel they are living in the first world,” he said. Prince Khaled said residential buildings are being rehabilitated by the companies executing the development projects and the citizens of these districts will shift to them. Prince Khaled made an inspection tour of the site for the Qasr Khozam Unplanned Districts Development Project. Work in removing the debris and preparing the land for developing the infrastructure began on March 16. Prince Khaled who is also Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Development of Unplanned Districts in Makkah Region presided over the project's executive committee meeting. The meeting dealt with the mechanism for compensating the Saudi real estate owners whose properties come within the development projects for unplanned districts, those not possessing title deeds, the program for supporting those whose compensation is insufficient to own an alternative residence in the Qasr Khozam Area Development Project, the mechanism for compensating real estate owners from the rent income and the conditions that must be fulfilled by the beneficiaries. He stressed the state's keenness to solve all the social aspects and remove all the obstacles hindering execution of the project through the compensation mechanism that serves everybody's interests and safeguards their rights.
