The budget for the Mayor's Office in Jeddah is not enough to cover the development plans for a city's increasing size and population density, Mayor Adel Faqih has said. Speaking at the Okaz Forum held last week to hear the challenges facing the city, Mayor Faqih, promised the launch of the “Shafafiya” (transparency) website, in which mayoralty plans, accounts and budgets will be detailed, within two months. Among those plans, Faqih said, was the creation next year of a public transportation company managed by the Mayor's Office Jeddah Company to tackle traffic congestion. “Jeddah's 20-year strategic plan aims to turn Jeddah into a city of globally competitive features, and comprehensively address environmental and social issues,” Faqih said. “It also aims to set out a unified policy on the use, management and development of land.” Mayor Faqih said that some 60 projects for tunnels and bridges are to be carried out over the next three years, along with 200 public green spaces to be added over the next two years to the already existing 250. “The Jeddah Company will commence four housing projects simultaneous with its projects for unplanned areas renovation,” Faqih said. “Thousands of new low-cost housing units will be built as an alternative to giving housing grants in outlying areas.” Work is currently taking place at 50 unplanned districts around the city. “Owners of property in unplanned areas who do not have house title deeds are compensated fairly for their expropriated houses and lands,” the mayor added.
