JEDDAH – The rainwater and flood drainage projects in the city have been progressing on schedule without any interruption in work since the contracts were signed this March, Ahmad Al-Saleem, Director of the Department of Rainwater and Flood Projects at Makkah Emirate, said. Eight permanent projects are being implemented in Jeddah, including the construction of drainage canals, roads, five dams, and the expansion of rainwater drainage networks in the north, south, and east of the city as well as the construction of a new rainwater drainage canal near King Abdul Aziz International Airport. Al-Saleem said that construction work at Wadi Ghaleel Dam is 89 percent complete and that northern and southern canals for flood water drainage have been completed except for work at Makkah Bridge, which will be opened in the next three weeks. Work at four remaining dams is 80 percent complete and canal construction work near the airport is 27 percent compete. Over 13,300 workers using 2,800 heavy machines are working around the clock at project sites and have completed 16,000,000 work hours, Al-Saleem said. He also said that 21 licensed concrete factories are producing 21,000 cubic meters of concrete on a daily basis to provide the projects with sufficient quantities of concrete while three asphalt factories produce between 4,000-7,500 tons daily. Over 8.7 million cubic meters have been excavated, 750,000 cubic meters of reinforced concrete and 46,000 tons of reinforced steel have been used for construction and 58 km of pipes have been installed. “Some 300 engineers and supervisors are keep ing a close eye on work progress and safety standards.” Work at the 645-meter-long and 18-meter-wide Ghaya Valley dam, which can hold up to seven million cubic meters of water, is also progressing on schedule, Al-Saleem said. The northern and southern sides of the dam have been completed. Excavation work at Umm Hablain Valley dam, which is 12 meters high with a capacity of four million cubic meters of water, has been completed and 300,000 cubic meters of rock have been used to fill the dam. The 15-meter-high Daghbaj Valley dam has a capacity to retain five million cubic meters of water. The dam is supported by another 13-meter-high dam. All excavation and drainage pipe work has been completed while 67 percent of concrete work has already been laid. Bariman Valley dam is 21 meters high with a capacity of six million cubic meters of water. It is supported by two dams, one 285 meters high and the other 16 meters high. Concrete and pipe work has been completed for the supporting dams. The 35-km-long Airport Canal project is located near King Abdul Aziz International Airport. About 520,000 cubic meters have been excavated and 11,000 meters of pipes have been fixed while 80 million cubic meters of ground water have been pumped out.
