MADINAH, 26 September 2003 — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, yesterday laid the foundation stone for a series of development projects that will change the face of the area surrounding the Prophet’s Mosque. The area has been witnessing major changes over the past year.
The ceremony was attended by senior officials. Prince Abdullah was greeted by Madinah Governor Prince Muqrin, Zaid ibn Muhammad Al-Sharif, chairman of Aqar Holding Co. and senior officials.
Implemented by Aqar Holding Company, the projects are being constructed on the eastern side of the mosque and feature residential complexes and commercial centers complete with health, civil defense, public transport and other facilities in addition to administrative buildings.
Prince Muqrin said the projects marked the last phase of an ambitious plan to expand and develop the area surrounding the mosque.
Two decades ago, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd gave the go-ahead for a massive expansion project at the Prophet’s Mosque here and the Grand Mosque in Makkah at a cost exceeding SR70 billion. Each of the two mosques now accommodates more than a million worshipers at a time.
Prince Muqrin said the huge amounts spent by the state on developing the infrastructure of the area surrounding the Prophet’s Mosque helped attract large investment from the private sector. Private sector investments now exceed the amounts spent by the state five-fold, and will soon rise to more than eight-fold.
These activities, the prince said, had helped create more than 30,000 jobs and boosted the accommodation capacity of the central area around the mosque 10 times.
Crown Prince Abdullah arrived in Madinah on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, he opened two multibillion riyal expressways that in their entirety will eventually link the east of the Kingdom with the west. The work on the highway projects was inaugurated by the crown prince six years ago.
