“Work on all short-term emergency projects are progressing as planned. The ministry gets weekly reports on the progress of the projects,” Prince Mansour said while touring the sites of flood protection projects in Quwaisah, Umm Al-Khayr and other locations on Wednesday.

The prince added that the ministry wanted not only the completion of the projects on time but also insisted on the quality of the work, Al-Madinah daily reported on Thursday.

The projects visited by the minister included Qaus Check Dam 2, which has a capacity to hold 1.16 million cubic meters of floodwater. The Qaus Check Dam 1, 152 meters long and 15 meters high, has a capacity of 2.3 million cubic meters. All these projects have been completed. The North Qaus Canal and Qaus Check Dam 3, with a 5.3 million cubic meter capacity, are expected to be completed in a week.

The minister also visited the site of the 600 meter x 50 meter canal, which is paved with 10,000 square meters of concrete slabs. The SR50 million project is expected to completed by the middle of November.

The visited projects also included repairs to the Southern Canal linked to the drainage project in East Jeddah. The project consists of three canals covering an area of 14,500 square meters. The repairs of the canals have already been completed. Work on the northern canal, which is currently under way, is expected to finish before the rainy season starts.

Other emergency flood protection projects visited by the minister included the underground pipe canal in the Mathoub valley to provide protection to Qaus, Ghulail and Mathoub neighborhoods.

The 2.9 kilometer canal at the cost of SR356 is scheduled to be completed in April next year. The Mathoub Check Dam No. 2 and another dam with a capacity to hold 3.83 million cubic meters of water will be completed in two weeks. The Mathoub Check Dam No. 1, which can hold 818,000 cubic meters of water, has been completed.

The minister said a number of projects are being executed in Makkah to protect the city from flood threats.