Saudi Arabia’s government has announced that a huge $14.7bn (SAR 55bn) real estate project in Madinah is underway.
Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman launched the project at a ceremony attended by Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar and other senior government officials, Arab News reports.
Financed by the state-owned Public Investment Fund, the project consists of 100 towers and will accommodate more than 120,000 people.
The project, which is expected to take two years to complete, is being built on an area covering 1.6mn m².
Of the 100 towers, each of which will have 30 floors, 80 will be used for residential purposes and 20 for administrative.
According to the ministry, the project will also include 76 four-star hotels and six five-star hotels offering rooms for 40,000 people.
The project will also house a 400-bed hospital, while a railway station will also be built to transport up to 84,000 pilgrims daily to and from the Prophet’s Mosque on lines elevated above the streets and bus station.
One of the buildings will also house the Haj Ministry’s branch office in Madinah, the office of the Higher Haj Committee, other related Haj agencies, the office of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities and offices of the Tawafa organizations for pilgrims from different countries. The government offices are designed to accommodate 31,000 employees.
The project will be implemented over three phases, the ministry said, with foundations work happening in the first of these. Offices for the Ministry of Haj would then be built in the second phase, with the third phase involving the construction of residential buildings.
The project site has already been handed over to contractors.
Construction Week
30 July
