There is a significant facelift operation destined to take place in Jeddah. This Bridge of the Red Sea project will commence by dismantling and developing the slums and underdeveloped neighbourhoods in Jeddah.
The Jeddah Central Project
The Mayor of Jeddah, Saleh Al-Turki, stated that over 60 under-developed Jeddah neighbourhoods are present today. Demolitions have already taken place in the neighbourhood of Gulail. However, authorities have merely dismantled electricity and other utility services earlier this week in Kandara and Hindawiya.
Around three months ago, the mayor’s office began serving notices to the residents to evacuate their office and residential buildings in the under-developed neighbourhoods. The mayoralty had decided to develop slums several years ago, specifically in the city’s central, southern, and eastern parts. However, the mayor’s office failed to implement the decision for some reason.
In November 2021, the mayoralty declared that it had finished a draft scheme to enhance slum regions in 32 neighbourhoods spanned over an area of over 214 million square meters. However, it is interesting that merely 24 million square meters of these regions have bona fide ownership title deeds and documents.
Two years ago, Saleh Al-Turki’s office studied the scheme to develop Jeddah’s under-developed neighbourhoods via eight projects. The study was a faction of a bigger whole to refurbish slums in cities all over Saudi Arabia.
By the dusk of 2020, Majed Al-Hoqail, the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, elucidated a mechanism to refurbish slums and under-developed areas within all mayoralties in all governorates and provinces throughout Saudi Arabia. As a result, an administrative body was established, dubbed Central Regions Development Department.
During that time, the minister stated that these departments would be accountable for refurbishing slums, setting standards, guidelines, controls, and a general policy to develop slums with proactive community participation and collaboration. The minister’s implementations intended to guarantee the success of the refurbishment project.
Whilst addressing the Makkah Economic Forum in 2019, Jeddah Mayor Saleh Al-Turki stated that the chief focus of the mayor’s office was to augment the infrastructure in slum areas.
He stated that the mayor’s office aimed to expand exceptional services as swiftly as possible with developing neighbourhoods where there are no services that allow it to accomplish the goals of Vision 2030. Al-Turki indicated that the mayoralty established indicators and plans to refurbish the quality-of-life pillars.
The mayor also indicated that developing the Khuzam Palace area and Ruwais neighbourhood in Jeddah failed in the past.
Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, a chairman of the Board of Directors of the PIF and Jeddah Central Development Company, launched the master plan of the Jeddah Central Project (previously known as New Jeddah Downtown) on December 17th 2021.
The SAR 75 billion (USD 19.99 billion) project will advance 5.7 million square meters of land overseeing the Red Sea. The project is to be financed by PIF alongside regional and international investors. The project will augment the city’s economy and envisions the fabrication of a world-class destination adjacent to the Red Sea in the bosom of Jeddah.
The ambitious project will accomplish an estimated added value of SAR 47 billion (USD 12.53 billion) for Saudi Arabia’s economy by 2030. It will encompass four notable landmarks – a museum, an oceanarium, an opera house, and a sports stadium.
