Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Jeddah to rescue historic buildings in central area
The local municipality has unveiled massive renovation and development plans for the city's historic area in Balad, at a cost of more than 2 billion riyals (about Dh1.9 billion).
- By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent
- Published: 00:33 May 15, 2008
Jeddah: The local municipality has unveiled massive renovation and development plans for the city's historic area in Balad, at a cost of more than 2 billion riyals (about Dh1.9 billion).
Dr. Adnan Abbas Adas, director of the historical area department of the municipality, told Gulf News the project was awarded to a Saudi company. They will start working in three months.
"The project involves the renovation of old houses and mosques, as well as infrastructure projects with the aim of turning the area into one of the tourism landmarks in the kingdom, and help it find a place on the list of World Heritage sites," he said. The area has been shortlisted for consideration as a Unesco World Heritage site.
Approved
According to Dr Adnan, the company will begin with the project as soon as they receive the green light from the municipality's engineers. He said the master plan for the development has been approved by the Governor of Makkah, Prince Khalid Al Faisal.
The governor's move comes after years of neglect and the migration of residents to other areas of the city. Subsequently, the old and dilapidated houses in the area became a haven for overstayers. In some houses there are more than 100 people.
They try to steal electricity and water in an unsound and haphazard way. He said the historical area, which spreads over some 28 hectares, will be supplied with utilities and basic services including rest-aurants. It will be restricted to pedestrians.
He said the municipality, in cooperation with the concerned government agencies, started implementing campaigns aimed at putting an end to the problem of overstayers. "The municipality will help the owners of buildings where overstayers are living to get the buildings renovated in a sound manner, without causing any damage to the structure.
"The municipality has contacted a number of private companies to invest in the projects," Dr Adnan said, adding that the project will be implemented in three phases.
Earlier, a committee comprising representatives of the regional governorate, the municipality and civil defence, identified historical structures in all three districts of Balad.
In the last few years, several structures in the historic area have collapsed, while some have been completely destroyed by fire.
Last year, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz urged municipal authorities to prepare a comprehensive study on how to develop Jeddah's Balad and pledged to finance future initiatives. Following the king's support, municipality officials announced that they had formulated 42 development projects for the city's historic area for the next 10 years.
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