JEDDAH, 29 July — The Middle East’s largest cable car project is getting finishing touches in the resort city of Taif. According to Al-Watan Arabic daily, the project will be officially opened by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, next Monday.
The paper said the crown prince would also open a number of other tourism and development projects in the city including the Kara tourist village. The 4,200 meter-long cable car project, linking the Hada Mountain with the low-lying Kara valley, has 52 carriages in addition to a number of VIP cars.
“The project which can carry 1,000 people per hour is the first of its kind in the Middle East,” the Arabic daily said. The tourist village project includes hotels, restaurants, recreation facilities for families, playgrounds for children and facilities for skating and water sports.
The two tourism projects are being implemented by the Taif Investment and Tourism Company, which was established two years ago. The company has plans to build two more cable cars in the city and another tourist village at Sesad resort. Taif, with a history of thousands of years, is famous for its vineyards and other orchards. The city about 2,000 meters above sea level is one of the most important resorts in the Kingdom.
A state-of-the-art network of roads links Taif with Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh and other parts of the country. Thousands of vacationers from within and outside the Kingdom spend the summer in Taif to enjoy its scenic beauty, invigorating climate and beautiful parks, the largest of which is the King Fahd Park.
Taif now covers a total area of about 800 hectares. The area of the city did not exceed two and a half square kilometers in 1951. This indicates the great expansion the city of more than 350,000 people has undergone in recent years.
Taif is rich in archaeological sites that date back to the pre-Islamic era. Drawings and inscriptions found on many monuments denote their date and history.
The most famous of the historical sites is Souk Okaz, which was a forum for poets in one of the richest eras in the history of Arabic literature and culture. There are many pre-Islamic fortifications and old mosques in the city. Abdullah ibn Abass Mosque, the Adas Mosque and Al-Sanousi Mosque are among them. Taif is also known for its historical palaces including the Palace of Ismail, the Palace of Bahawat and the Palace of Shubra.
