JEDDAH, 9 March 2004 — The Jeddah Municipality in cooperation with the College of Environmental Design at King Abdul Aziz University and an engineering consultancy office has designed a project to develop the rainwater sewage channel here into a major recreation and tourist center.
“The 15-km channel, located in north Jeddah, will be transformed into a lake with recreational and tourist facilities on both sides,” Al-Madinah Arabic daily reported yesterday. “It will be the first such project in the world,” the paper claimed.
The project is slated to offer lucrative investment opportunities for Saudi and foreign businesses. It will also reduce pollution and the spread of diseases carried by mosquitoes and other insects that currently breed in the brackish water.
There are plans to establish models of the old Jeddah port and other historic monuments in the area. Other projects are: a marine museum, a bowling club and other sports facilities including a cycling track and a skating rink.
