Cairo: Saudi Arabia has resumed a phased plan to develop a populous slum area in Mecca with the aim of eliminating visual disfigurement of the city known as the Holy Capital of the kingdom.
Authorities began evacuating dwellers of Al Nakasa district, around 1,500 metres from the Grand Mosque, before dismantling the slum as part of the development scheme. The gradual removal of the slum was suspended for more than a year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Saudi television Al Ekhbariya reported that trucks were transporting dwellers’ furniture ahead of the demolition of the ill-planned houses located in narrow alleyways.
Spokesman for the slum development project in Mecca Amjad Maghrabi said the project was launched after the holy city had suffered due to proliferation of informal housing resulting in negative impact.
“The project seeks to address the status of damaged districts and remove negative effects,” he added, according to Okaz newspaper.
The official explained that a ministerial committee in charge of developing slums in Mecca has approved a comprehensive strategy to rehabilitate them in urban, socio-economic and health terms.
“The strategy helps their dwellers to get integrated socially and economically,” he added.
Al Nakasa is a densely populated area crammed with informal housing inhabited by expatriates from different nationalities
Unlicensed dwellings have multiplied in Mecca over mountain slops inhabited by violators of the kingdom's residency and labour laws as well as undocumented migrants, Okaz previously reported.
