New Saudi city to have 995,000 housing units

Saudi Arabia's new Al-Faisaliya city project is expected to provide 995,000 housing units and accommodate 6.5 million people by 2050, reports said. Prince Khalid Al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz, advisor to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Governor of Makkah Region, yesterday unveiled the details of the recently-announced project. The plan was approved by King Salman earlier. Prince Khalid said the project is actually a giant extension of the holy city of Makkah and is expected to reduce pressure on Makkah and Jeddah, an Saudi Press Agency (SPA) report said. He said it will occupy 2,450 sq km area on the western coast of Makkah. The project will consist of a governmental complex, including the Governorate of Makkah Region; an Islamic centre for all Islamic organisations and foundations; an Islamic research centre; centres for meetings, symposia and conference, in addition to residential areas, malls and entertainment, educational, health, agricultural and industrial facilities, an airport and sea port. The city will also have modern transport facilities including train, metro, tram and buses. The project will be supervised by the Makkah Region Development Authority. The geographical border of the new city will start from the Makkah Haram boundary and will extend up to the Red Sea coast of Al-Shuaiba in the west. Makkah-Jeddah Expressway is located north of the project while Allaith governorate is in the south and west, said a Saudi Gazette report. The project will take advantage of the successful global experiments of pumping diverse economic investments as in the case of Singapore and Putrajaya City in Malaysia, and the development projects will be based on renewable energy and sustainable agriculture. The project targets production of 9.5 gigawatts of power from renewable energy sources. It will also aim to attract 10 million visitors, including Haj and Umrah pilgrims