RIYADH, 2 July 2006 — Saudi Arabia will build a city named after Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in a tsunami-affected area of Sri Lanka, Mohammed Mahmud Al-Ali, Saudi ambassador in Colombo who is currently on a visit to the capital, told Arab News yesterday. “Dubbed King Abdullah Model City, the integrated facility will have 500 houses, a clinic, a mosque, a school, a children’s playground and a shopping complex,” Al-Ali said, adding that the groundbreaking ceremony of the multimillion rupee project was launched recently in the district of Ampara, some 300 km from the capital Colombo.
The envoy said that under a special program funded by the Saudi Charity Campaign (SCC), the Kingdom would construct 1,000 houses in the tsunami-affected areas, which would include 500 within the proposed city, and the rest in the districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Hambantota.
Last week, he said, Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with the Sri Lankan government for the construction 100 housing units for tsunami victims in Hambantota.
Yousef Bakheet Rahmah, regional director of Saudi Charity Campaign, and Minister of Housing Ferial Ashroff were the signatories to the agreement. It was signed in the presence of Agricultural Development Minister Chamal Rajapakse and Ambassador Al-Ali.
During its second phase, another 160 housing units would be constructed at Hambantota. In the third stage, 340 houses would be built in Trincomalee and Batticaloa, he added. Ministers Rajapakse and Ashroff thanked King Abdullah for his generosity and continuous support to Sri Lanka, he said.
About two-thirds of Sri Lanka’s coastline was battered by tsunami waves. It killed 35,322 people and left 516,150 homeless.
