Work on Jeddah flood projects on schedule
4,986 workers have worked for more than two million hours to get the projects running smoothly
Construction works on Jeddah’s long term drainage projects are progressing around the clock, a municipal official has confirmed.
Ahmad Al Sulaim, director of the drainage department at the municipality, said that more than two million hours of work had been spent on implementing the projects within the last 88 days, since the contracts had been awarded in March of this year.
“A total of 4,986 workers, supplied with 1,697 (pieces of) heavy equipment, are engaged in implementing the project at 44 worksites. As many as 57 engineers and 24 Saudi supervisors are managing the smooth conduct of the project,” he told Arab News, a Saudi Arabian, English language daily newspaper.
He added that the teams had overcome the toughest phases while implementing the projects, pumping out more than 20,000m3 of underground water.
The permanent drainage solution projects include the construction of five dams, the expansion of existing canals and the construction of a brand new canal along the King Abdulaziz International Airport.
Two Saudi and two international companies have been awarded contracts worth a total of $903.9bn to implement these projects.
Nesma Company, a Saudi Arabian firm, won a contract worth $214m to build four dams in Wadi Ghaya, Wadi Um Hablain, Wadi Daghbaj and Wadi Briman. It has also been awarded another contract worth $99.1m to build a dam in Wadi Ghalil, and renovate the southern floodwater path.
The Chinese Communications Construction Company was awarded a contract worth $38.1m to renovate the northern floodwater path for the Wadi Ghalil project.
Al Sulaim told the Saudi newspaper that nearly 22% of the damn construction works were completed. He added that most of the digging and foundation works for the construction of the five dams have already been completed.
Last year, the Jeddah municipality completed a total of 14 emergency projects to deal with rainwater and flashfloods in the coastal city. These were completed within 110 day and included the refurbishment of the Umm al Khair and Al Samir dams, as well as the treatment of 12 water collection areas in various parts of Jeddah.
In November 2009 and January 2011, Jeddah was hit by torrential rain and devastating floods that killed more than 130 people and destroyed thousands of homes and vehicles.
