MAKKAH: Makkah residents are complaining about the delay in the completion of the 12-year-ld King Fahd Housing Project in the city.
According to a report in Friday’s Al-Madinah newspaper, the SR1.5-billion project to provide housing for 1,600 families completed most of its construction work was completed three years ago, but appears to have come to a standstill ever since.
“Although the contract for the final works, was reassigned to another contractor three years ago, no work has been done so far,” Chairman of the Real Estate Committee in the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mansour Abu Rayash told the newspaper. “The housing units now look like abandoned houses.”
The delay in its completion adds to the woes of the thousands of people whose homes were demolished for the expansion of the northern square of the Grand Mosque and many other development projects currently underway. Officials of the Saudi Real Estate Development Fund did not comment on why the project has not been completed.
“We have been looking forward to the completion of the project over the past decade,” said Badar Al-Otaibi, a potential recipient for a house. “The project has become home to stray dogs and cats.”
Ibrahim Al-Sulami, whose house was demolished for development projects in central Makkah, said he and others who have been displaced by ongoing projects are “greatly disappointed” with the progress of the housing project.
Umdah (district head) of the neighborhood, Huzaie Al-Sharif, stressed the importance of the quick completion of the project.
“While 1,500 properties have been demolished for the projects related to the Haram, another 4,000 houses will be razed for other developmental projects, such as the Jabal Omar and King Abdul Aziz Road,” he said.
