AL-MADINAH AL-MUNAWWARAH — Saudi Arabia is pouring billions of dollars into the holy city of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, the cradle of Islam and the burial place of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him), to turn the city into a high-tech bastion.
"Madinah was the springboard for Islamic civilization," Tahir Mohammed Bawazir, chairman of Knowledge Economic City Developers Company Ltd, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Saudi government has launched a mega-project to turn the holy city into a high-tech bastion.
The 25 billion-Riyal project aims to establish an economically viable catalyst for knowledge-based industries in Madinah and create an alternative central business district with better facilities and infrastructure.
The project also aims to create a tourist destination supported by the unique theme park, world-class hospitality establishments and outstanding retail offer.
"In our case we call them Economic Cities because they have more ingredients," said Amr al-Dabbagh, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA).
"They are places where people can work, enjoy life and make money."
The holy city of Madinah lies in the central Hijaz, 447 kilometers north of the holy city of Makkah.
Sited on a fertile oasis, the city is 625 meters (2,050 feet) above sea level and is bounded on three sides by hills which form part of the Hijaz mountain range.
The highest of these hills, Mount Uhud, rises more than 2,000 meters above the oasis.
Madinah was the cradle of Islam after Prophet Muhammad immigrated along with the first followers of Islam from Makkah to Madinah – which means "city" in Arabic – in 622 AD to escape persecution.
The city is home to the Prophet's tomb.
"This is the place where it all started. So there is history," said Bawazir.
Hub
Saudi Arabia hopes the KEC project will turn the holy city into a magnet for Muslim scientists and companies wanting to do business and bolstering development on all fronts.
"It's an attractive proposition for people to live here," said Bawazir.
But there are also question marks over the real aim of these artificial cities emerging from the Saudi sands, and also over their long-term viability.
"They are into buildings. They are into real estate. Real estate is something they do well," one Asian professor teaching in a Saudi university said about the promoters of KEC and the other so-called "economic cities."
The construction drive coincides with an unprecedented economic boom generating colossal oil revenues for Saudi Arabia, the world's top crude exporter.
The kingdom earned 194 billion dollars in oil income in 2007 and it is estimated that combined revenues for 2008 and 2009 will amount to 700 billion dollars because of the skyrocketing cost of crude.
But the head of the state-run SAGIA insisted that the projects "are all developed by the private sector."
"Our role is to iron out any obstacles and ensure that the environment is pro-business," Dabbagh said.
Dabbagh said that SAGIA is also conducting feasibility studies on two other projects "to see if they are commercially viable."
By the year 2020, new cities that have mushroomed from the Saudi desert could be home to 4.8 million inhabitants and generate 1.2 million jobs.
Employment is a high political and economic priority for Saudi Arabia, where half of the total population of around 23 million is under 18.
Expatriates make up more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia's total population, according to official figures published in September 2004.
No comments:
Post a Comment