Jeddah’s Old Airport to Become New City



P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News

JEDDAH, 19 October 2006 — A multipurpose world-class city is coming up in the Old Airport of Jeddah. Designs for the project is being prepared by an American consultancy firm and the work will take off within six months, says Abdul Qader Othman Ameer, assistant mayor of Jeddah.

The multibillion-dollar project includes educational institutions, hotels, residential apartments, recreational centers, conference halls, museums, mosques, playgrounds, government offices and a railway station.

The project will be carried out on a vast area of 12 million square meters. “The private sector will participate with the municipality in carrying out the project,” Al-Madinah Arabic daily quoted Ameer as saying. The municipality owns five million square meters of the land required for the project.

Jeddah Mayor Adel Faqeeh has signed an agreement with Hawk International, which was selected from 30 well-known global consultancy firms, to design the project. Ameer said the new world city would change Jeddah’s face.

“We’ll cooperate with real estate owners at old airport, especially Emaar Middle East and Inmaiya Co. to carry out the project,” Ameer said.

Speaking about Jeddah’s history, he said Caliph Othman established the city in 25H, about 1422 years ago to become the main gateway of the two holy mosques, considering the important geographical position of the city.

During the past 40 years, Jeddah made tremendous progress, especially after the construction of the first airport in Sharafiya. This led to development of residential areas around the airport.

During the past years new residential districts sprouted as the city expanded 50 km to north, 25 km to south and 15 km to east, Ameer pointed out.

He said the Old Airport where the new project is planned is an ideal site as it is close to King Abdul Aziz International Airport, Jeddah Islamic Port and cultural and commercial centers as well as to Makkah.

Ameer said Mayor Faqeeh has offered his full support to the project, adding that he would coordinate with government departments to make the project a reality. “The project offers a model plan for the development of Old Airport,” Ameer said.

He said the project would also include public parks, public utility services and parking facilities, adding that it would help attract billions of riyals in domestic and foreign investment and enhance cultural and infrastructure facilities.

He said Hawk International would design the project within four months. In March last year, Al-Oula Development Company held a major auction in Jeddah to sell 888 plots spread on an area of 1.2 million square meters at Old Jeddah Airport. The prices per square meter doubled from SR1,500 to SR3,200 as a result of the big demand.

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Transworld FZE chooses Amana Contracting to build an extension to its logistics center

 

Transworld FZE, a leading logistics company in the Middle East has awarded a contract to Amana Contracting and Steel Buildings, to design and build an extension of their logistics facilities in JAFZA. The extension of the facility comprises building of a warehousing facility, with an additional built up area of 5440 sq meters, on a plot of over 40,412 sq meters. The new facility will expand the existing capacity of the warehouse by over 20 %. 

Transworld FZE has contracted Amana to design and construct the warehouse on a fast track basis in just 240 days. Approximately 210 tonnes of steel will be used for this project.   

“We are delighted to award this contract to Amana due to their proven expertise in providing comprehensive design-build solutions from conception through construction and completion,” Said Rajesh Mukherjee, General Manager, Transworld FZE   

“Amana's ability to provide a cost-effective and fast-track solution to the construction of its projects – without sacrificing build quality – was, we believe, a key factor in their selection.”  He added.

Commenting on the project, Jihad Bsaibes, General Manager, Amana Contracting and Steel Buildings, Dubai said “This is a unique project as it involves the building of an additional mezzanine area in the existing facility. The new system can bear additional load of racking as well as accommodate the installation of an in-rack fire fighting system which is a critical safety feature of the warehouse.

"Amana constructed the existing logistics facilities of Transworld on a design-build basis in January 2005. The recurrence of work with the same client is a testament to our service culture and product", he added. 

Amana’s success is the direct result of employing a regional design-build contractor concept with a decentralized model.  This means actively involving design engineers in the process so the sales team ensures delivery of custom designed and cost-effective solutions to its clients. Construction on this project has already begun, and the overall project will be completed in just 240 days.

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