A new high-tech and spacious deportation center in Jeddah is ready for operation.

The new center, which has a capacity of 35,000, is the largest of its kind in the Kingdom.

The center, built by a leading construction company, is located in the newly built security complex at Shumaisy on the Jeddah-Makkah Expressway.

The new facility is part of other security facilities on the same premises, which form part of the King Abdullah Project for infrastructural development of security facilities in the Kingdom.

Jeddah-based consuls general were invited by Saudi authorities on Tuesday to visit the newly built deportation center.

Foreign consulates that have a sizable number of deportees are being allocated office space inside the facility to execute documentation work.

The existing deportation center, located in Kandara in Jeddah, was built 40 years ago to facilitate the repatriation of Haj and Umrah overstayers.

Located adjacent to the Old Jeddah airport, it has a capacity of only 5,500 inmates.

The new center in Makkah is expected to serve as a major hub for deportation in the Kingdom.

A terminal is being built exclusively for deportees at a cost of SR130 million amid ongoing expansion work at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport.