Work being carried out on a project in Central Area in the vicinity of the Grand Mosque in Makkah. — Okaz photo Okaz/Saudi Gazette MAKKAH – The Makkah Mayoralty has established stricter guidelines for supervising large development projects in Makkah including those for developing unplanned districts to ensure that they progress according to plan, without financial or technical corruption. Dr. Osama Fadl Al-Bar, Mayor of Makkah, issued a decision to form a higher committee of leading mayoralty officials to review mega-projects being executed by the mayoralty, private sector companies and the Al-Balad Al-Amin Company. The committee has wide powers to summon anyone it wants to attend the meetings and participate in discussions about any project, he added. Dr. Al-Bar specified that the committee will monitor and follow up on the mega-projects by focusing on several aspects of their execution. Its key functions include receiving and reviewing documents and studies related to projects; ensuring that the company abides by the building code, according to the approved licenses; establishing urban controls; suggesting building systems for sites presented by the company tasked with executing the projects; giving technical opinions; and coming up with initiatives, ideas and future visions for sites owned by the company. The seven-member committee, in the form of an accounts-control commission with Makkah Mayoralty, is headed by the deputy mayor for construction and projects, who will serve as its chairman, and the assistant mayor for development, who will serve as its deputy chairman. Members include the director of urban planning, director general of lands and properties, supervisor general of the consultant studies and pioneering projects unit, director of building licenses administration and secretary of the construction and projects agency. In his decision to form the committee, Dr. Al-Bar specified that it will meet on a weekly basis to look into subjects referred to it, and that it has the right to hold other meetings at the mayoralty headquarters, the premises of Al-Balad Al-Amin Company or the Makkah Development Authority. The action was taken by the Makkah Mayoralty to protect its gains and make sure that development projects progress according to the aspirations of the leadership, Dr. Al
