Business & Money | Wednesday 13 June, 2018 10:26 am |

Muhammad Al-Quwaihes, mayor of Makkah, signed on Tuesday an agreement with Aknaf Al-Khaleej Company to establish an integrated residential neighborhood as part of the Makkah Gate project.

The massive residential project will be implemented on a total area covering 580,000 square meters on a strategic location along the Makkah-Jeddah Expressway. The residential project will be located 18 km from the Grand Mosque in Makkah and five km from the Qur’an Gate.

Al-Quwaihes, chairman of the board of directors of Al-Balad Al-Amin Development and Urban Regeneration Company, said that there would be separate residential areas for families and bachelors at the township. It is the project of Makkah Gate Company, which is a non-profit firm owned by Al Balad Al Amin Co., the investment arm of Makkah Mayoralty.

The township also includes commercial zone, big garden and mosque, international school for all phases of education, health center, sports clubs for men and women, tennis courts, artificial lagoons, and solar and sewage plants.

The SR60 billion Makkah Gate housing scheme, which will be a natural extension of Makkah, is designed to accommodate about 800,000 people when it is completed within 15 years. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, emir of Makkah and advisor to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, laid the foundation stone for the first project of the Makkah Gate housing scheme in 2012. The scheme is designed as part of a comprehensive strategy to develop the region with the participation of both public and private sectors.