Thirteen local and international companies are vying for contracts to implement the projects, which include the construction of six dams, expansion of existing rainwater drainage canals, and construction of a new canal. The Jeddah municipality had invited bids from the qualified local and international contractors for the projects on Jan. 4.
Ahmad Al-Sulaim, director of the drainage department at the municipality, said the projects demonstrate the keenness of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Naif, also chairman of the executive ministerial committee to tackle flashfloods, to find a lasting solution to the problem.
“The entire process of tackling the problem is being held under the close supervision of Prince Khaled, who is also chairman of the branch ministerial committee for projects to deal with rainwater and flashfloods in Jeddah. This is the realization of an unprecedented cooperation among all concerned departments and agencies as well as the project team in addition to both citizens and foreigners in Jeddah,” he said.
Al-Sulaim noted the awarding of the projects follows an announcement made by Prince Khaled during a ceremony to mark the completion of 14 emergency projects to deal with rainwater and flashfloods in Jeddah in December last year.
The governor opened 14 ad hoc projects, referred to by the municipality as “quick-solution projects” in east Jeddah for the quick drainage of rainwater. The municipality completed the projects within a record time of 110 days. The governor said at the time that work on permanent flood solutions would start in the first quarter of 2012.
Jeddah was hit by torrential rains and devastating floods in November 2009 and in January 2011 that killed more than 130 people in total and destroyed thousands of homes and cars. A poor drainage system was blamed for turning the flood disaster into a catastrophe.
Al-Sulaim said the permanent projects were the outcome of three workshops held by the municipality and other concerned government departments.
He said the first of these workshops discussed the formulation of mechanisms for coordination among all parties involved, while the second reviewed and approved the designs and the third debated the best means of implementation of the current and future development projects in the city.
“The workshops witnessed presentations and discussed permanent solutions to protect Jeddah from floods coming from the eastern mountains and valleys. These included construction of a number of dams linked with canals to drain these dams to the Red Sea,” he said while adding that a major workshop under the auspices of Makkah governorate will be held after awarding the contracts.
The 14 ad hoc projects for quick solutions consisted of refurbishing the Umm Al-Khair and Al-Samir dams in addition to the treatment of 12 water-collection areas in various parts of Jeddah.
The two dams, though constructed as part of the ad hoc projects, are in fact part of the permanent solution schemes. The Umm Al-Khair dam was built at a height of seven meters and a length of 1,100 meters and was linked to the northern valley pass via an open canal, which is 730 meters long and 33 meters wide. The Al-Samir dam was also linked to the northern valley pass by an open canal, which is three kilometers long and 40 meters wide.
