“Jeddah will witness the implementation of a number of giant projects in all sectors," he said at a meeting with students at King Abdulaziz University. "Despite criticisms of people and the media, Jeddah will remain prosperous and a major center for tourists.”
Khaled said Jeddah receives a large number of domestic and international tourists.
“Government wants to make Jeddah an economic and tourist center by allocating billions of riyals for various infrastructure projects,” he said.
Khaled said Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has given utmost priority to building a state-of-the-art floodwater drainage system for Jeddah to prevent recurrent flooding in the city.
He highlighted the efforts to supply desalinated water in all parts of the province.
“There are two cities in the province where desalinated water has not yet reached. We are now making efforts to make water reach there,” he said.
He emphasized the need for building libraries in all residential districts to encourage children to read books. “Work on the King Fahd Library in Jeddah will start in July,” he said.
A female student asked whether there was any possibility for a woman minister, Prince Khaled said: “Position should not be a barrier for women to serve the country.”
He said he would allocate a day for the disabled to discuss their problems and needs. Khaled presided over the meeting of the local council for the development of the city of Jeddah on Sunday and listened to a briefing about the damage caused by rains and floods in the city in January. He was also briefed about the projects implemented during the years 2008-2010 in addition to the projects approved for the fiscal year 2010-2011 and the future development schemes.
According to the council sources, during the years 2008-2011, a total of 48 development projects of the Jeddah Municipality were completed, 84 under execution and 19 were facing difficulties. They estimated that the city was in need of 27 more development projects in various fields in the future.
According to the sources, a single water project was implemented in the city and three others were under implementation. They added that the city was still in need of four other water projects.
In the field of environmental services, eight projects were executed, 22 others under implementation, one facing difficulties and seven new others needed.
In the field of electricity, 24 projects have been completed, 20 others under execution, 16 new others needed and two faltering projects. A total of 15 projects in electricity were approved in the budget of the fiscal year 2010-2011.
In the domain of roads and transport, the municipality carried out three projects while work was still continuing on 19 others. Four more road and transport projects were still in the need.
In the field of health, 30 projects were executed and 10 others under implementation while 28 others were facing difficulties in implementation. The city is still in dire need for 63 new health projects.
The Red Crescent implemented one project and was working on two others. There is a need for four Red Crescent projects while six schemes were in the offing in the next year budget.
