The Jeddah Mayoralty officials met here Wednesday with a German trade delegation to discuss areas of mutual economic benefit and to brief the visitors on developments in the city. Engineer Adel Fakeih, Jeddah's Mayor, told members of the delegation that the Bride of the Red Sea has witnessed huge growth and major changes over the past 60 years. He said the population of the governorate has grown by 100 percent while the area of the land has increased a thousand times. The Jeddah Mayoralty has reportedly expected the city population would break the 10-million-mark by the end of 2020. The city is currently home to about three million people. The size of the city was only one square kilometer in 1947. Now it is over 100 square kilometers. But 75 percent of the current city (or 85 square kilometers) is vacant and can accommodate up to 1.7 million people if developed. Fakeih said the mayoralty is working with several government agencies on a plan for the development of the Makkah region, emphasizing that the government finances the mayoralty's projects. He pointed out that citizens do not pay taxes. He said that in order to finance the mayoralty's mega projects, the city has established the Jeddah Company for Urban Development. This company generates revenues that enable the mayoralty to carry out its plans which need huge financial resources, he said. Ernst Pfister, the Minister of Economic Affairs, from the German State of Baden-Württemberg, was part of the delegation that met with the mayor. Fakeih said the mayoralty's strategy is to organize the future development in Jeddah, which covers urban areas, patterns of land use, the economy, environment, social services, culture, heritage, tourism, transportation, infrastructure, management of seafronts, open and recreational areas, housing and undeveloped areas. The German delegation asked about e-government, the financial independence of the mayoralty, level of coordination locally and regionally and the impact on Jeddah as the Gateway to the Two Holy Mosques and the decision to construct an airport in Makkah. The German delegation expressed an interest in cooperating with the mayoralty in the area of water and environmental treatment.
