JEDDAH: New projects to construct 6,400 km of roads will be undertaken in the Kingdom under the current year’s budget allocations for the transport sector.
“With a total expenditure of SR11.87 billion, which includes surplus from the past years, 316 road projects have been approved. The approval also includes the completion of the projects that were launched in the past years,” Transport Minister Jebara Al-Seraisry told Arab News on Sunday.
Giving more details on the new projects Al-Seraisry said: “The roads and transport sector has received great attention from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Crown Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, and Second Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Prince Naif.”
The works in Makkah province include 15 km of the third phase of the circular road in Jeddah, the third phase of the conversion of an 80 km stretch of the Jeddah-Jazan coastal road to an expressway, construction of an intersection on Madinah Road to the north of the Royal Lounge in Jeddah, completion of the repair of 36 km on the Taif-Baha-Abha Road with concrete dividers and construction of 13 km of Aqba-Marwah Road.
The projects in Madinah province include the third and fourth phases of the Third Ring road and the improvements to the intersections on the Second Ring road in Madinah city, the minister added.
The other projects in Madinah are the construction of intersections on Ali bin Abu Talib road, Quba road and Prince Abdul Mohsen road and completion of the 68-km Madinah-Hail road in addition to the repair of a 50-km stretch on the Tabuk-Madinah road and 39 km of Khaybar-Hait road, he said. “The budgetary allocations this year also include construction of 1,721 km of agricultural and branch roads at a total cost of SR1,195,100,000. Viability study and designing of 3,387 km of express roads, double lane roads and branch roads in various parts of the Kingdom will be undertaken at a cost of SR 64.3 million this year,” the minister said.
He added that SR20 million was allocated for studies related to transportation and SR27 million for information technology projects and new equipments in addition to construction of administrative buildings for the ministry’s offices in the Kingdom.
The new works in Riyadh province include the 65-km-long first phase of the conversion of the Hofairah-Nesah road to double lane, the 14-km first phase of the improvements to the Riyadh-Qassim Expressway, 30-km Afif-Zalam road and 164-km long Riyadh-Wadi Dawasir road. The projects also include the completion of Shaqra-Dawadmi road, Majmaa-Shaqra double lane road and Riyadh-Rayn-Bisha road.
The important projects to be undertaken in Qassim province include the completion of the inner city circular road in Buraidah, 10-km third phase of the circular road in Al-Rass and the 27-km extension of the Shaqa-Airport road. The 190-km final phase of the road ending at the Oman border is one of the major projects to be continued in the Eastern Province this year.
Another project is the first phase of the double lane road linking Riyadh-Dammam expressway with the Abu Hadriah-Dammam road and Dammam-Jubail road and linking of the King Fahd Airport road with the Abqaiq-Dhahran road. In Asir province, the 150-km Khamis Mushayt–Bisha road will be converted to double lane and the 30-km Taif-Abha road will be turned to a double lane this year.
