JEDDAH: Studies are under way to establish an airport on Farasan island, located 50 km west of Jazan in the Red Sea, Jazan Gov. Prince Mohammed bin Nasser said on Wednesday while launching two modern ships for the transportation of passengers and goods between Jazan and the islands.
Prince Mohammed said Farasan would witness the inauguration of more development projects in the coming weeks. “With the launch of two ships more people from different parts of the Kingdom will be able to participate in Farasan’s Hareed festival,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the governor as saying.
He urged businessmen to make use of the advanced technical and administrative facilities of Jazan Port as well as the financial incentives offered by the government, cutting shipping charges to the minimum. “We look forward to our businessmen making use of these facilities to promote foreign trade.”
Prince Mohammed said the two ships would make qualitative improvement in the Kingdom’s marine transport sector. “This will also lead to social, economic and tourism development of Farasan,” he added.
Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf, who attended the ceremony along with Transport Minister Jabara Al-Seraisry and Economy and Planning Minister Khaled Al-Gosaibi, said the two ships would open a new era in the Kingdom’s marine transport service. “The launch of the state-of-the-art ships reflects the government’s desire to strengthen the development of Jazan province and enhance welfare of its people,” the minister said.
“The government has allocated SR23 billion for educational, health and infrastructure projects in the province,” he added.
The 69-meter long and 18-meter wide ships are named “Jazan” and “Farasan” and each of them can carry 650 passengers, 50 cars and 17 goods vehicles. The multi-hulled catamaran-type vessels are equipped with advanced safety systems. The ships have canteens, prayer areas and electric stairs for people with special needs.
Al-Assaf said the ships, built by well-known builders, would reduce the sailing distance between Jazan and the island to 40 minutes. They will have a capacity to transport one million passengers and 80,000 vehicles annually. “This capacity could be doubled by increasing the number of daily trips,” he added.
Al-Seraisry said the Cabinet had ordered the supply of three modern ships for service between Jazan and Farasan in order to replace old ones that served more than 25 years. He said the new ships would increase passenger and tourist traffic between the two places in the coming years.
