JEDDAH, 24 January — Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed has said that Jeddah will require SR60 billion investment over the next 20 years to meet its water needs and expand the sewerage network.
Prince Abdul Majeed, who is the honorary chairman of the Jeddah Holding Company, told Al-Watan newspaper that only half of the actual water requirement, which runs up to 1 million cubic meters a day, was currently met by the desalination plants. The problem is further aggravated because a considerable part of the precious water is being wasted through the improper distribution system, he added.
Jeddah has 163 companies that distribute 70,000 cubic meters of water a day in their combined fleet of 1,000 tankers.
All previous efforts to find a realistic and effective solution to the water and sewage problem in the city have failed to produce the desired results largely due to insufficient resources and faulty studies, the prince said.
Prince Abdul Majeed has ordered new studies to identify the real problems and work out effective solutions to them. The project will be financed with the private sector participation.
While the governments worldwide shouldered the burden providing public utilities in the past, the current trend is to move toward gradual privatization, the prince said. But "we in the Kingdom have taken the direction of privatization ... because it is an economic and social necessity," he said. The move also aims at easing the state's financial burden and efficient use of available resources, the prince added.
People in the city currently spend SR6 to get a cubic meter of drinking water and an equal sum for removing a cubic meter of sewage. It means that the city residents are already paying a big sum for water and sewage services, the governor said.
The sewage network covers only the old districts which covers 10 percent of the city where 30 percent of its people live. The connection charge for sewage network ranges between SR500 and SR1,500 in the old districts.
From other parts of the city, more than 1,000 trucks remove 40,000 to 50,000 cubic meters of sewage daily and dump it east of the Makkah-Madinah expressway. However, the service is highly disorganized.
Citizens in the Kingdom have to spend a lot of money because of the inadequate facilities.
Prince Abdul Majeed said depending on private investment to find a lasting and effective solution to the problem would mean that the public would pay for the services rendered. The Jeddah Holding Company and its subsidiaries have been set up on this basis. Both the water shortage and sewage problem have to be tackled by a single agency. The projects should be carried out under the supervision of government agencies to guarantee quality and reasonable pricing, he said.
Currently a family of five pays SR250-SR300 for the water and sewage services monthly. The Jeddah Service Company will offer a far better service at a slightly higher rate. The sewage projects require an urgent investment of SR14 billion, the prince said. The Water and Sewage Department will supervise the operations of the JSC.
The governor said Jeddah's ground and coastal waters had been contaminated by sewage dumps while the foul odor from treatment plants and microbes pollute the city's air. An integrated scheme with the participation of the ministries of agriculture and water and health, the municipality, police, King Abdul Aziz University, Meteorological and Environmental Protection Administration and Geological Survey Authority, has been laid down to tackle the problem, the prince said.
Report denied: Prince Abdul Majeed denied yesterday a report carried by Al-Watan newspaper that said the Makkah Development Authority had decided to level three of the oldest districts in the holy city, the Saudi Press Agency said.
The report on Jan. 18 said buildings in Al-Shamiah, Al-Misfalah and Harrah Al-Bab districts would be pulled down and property owners would be paid compensation at the market rate.
Prince Abdul Majeed, who is the chairman of the authority, said the report by Dr. Hatun Ajwad Al-Fasi was totally baseless and not supported by facts.
