Master Plan for Mecca

The number of Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca is expected to increase from the present four million to 20 million in future years, pushing up the need for more accommodation in the holy city.

To meet the demand, real-estate developers are estimated to be spending about $13 billion on a variety of spectacular projects. Two of the most ambitious complexes will be Al-Shamiya and Abraj Al Bait.

Al Shamiya will be constructed by the Al Oula Development Company and accommodate around 250,000 people and 4,000 prayer participants. The first phase of construction will take three years. Final completion will take ten years and equip the complex with the most modern and luxurious facilities available.

Ayedh Bin Farhan Al-Gahtani, the president of Al Oula, says that the $9.3 billion project will be the biggest development taking place in the holy city.

The area being developed covers 741 acres and will feature hotels, residential apartments, commercial centers, markets and a capacity for about 10,500 vehicles.

Abraj Al Bait overlooks the Grand Mosque and is designed as a city within a city to accommodate 65,000 people. The palatial complex will have seven towers, the highest of which will be taller than the Empire State Building at 1,591 feet.

The towers include 10,000 accommodation units, ranging from apartments and suites to studios. Eighty percent will offer direct views of the Al-Haram mosque and 50 percent views of Al-Kaabah. When completed, it will be the biggest building in the world by mass, and the tallest building in Saudi Arabia.

Facilities will include a prayer room capable of accommodating nearly 4,000 worshippers, a huge shopping mall with a restaurant court, and conference and exhibition centers. These are intended to enhance the occupancy rate at the towers during the low seasons.

Saleh Al Habib, the executive director of Jiwar, the development company responsible for the marketing of Abraj Al Bait, says planners had to take into consideration that 60 percent of the clientele would not be Saudi citizens. They might be Iranians, Asians, Africans or of other nationalities.

“When we studied the Iranians, we found that they have different behavior patterns from Saudis. They like to travel in large groups and because of this they don't like eating out in restaurants, preferring instead to have private restaurants.

“With the Africans, many like to come two months before Ramadan to beat the crowd. The Kuwaitis love having bigger washrooms and smaller living rooms, which doesn't hold true with Saudi and Emirati clients.”

Al Habib agrees that he is very market orientated and, as an example of this aspect of his business approach, points out that Jiwar has introduced the idea of timeshare to the Saudi market.

“It is the first time in this country, and we've studied the concept together with the High Commission for Tourism and shariah scholars, and it will soon be approved by the government,” he says.

The Abraj Al Bait development is considered to be the biggest endowment investment project in the kingdom and the largest of its kind in the Islamic world.

Construction began in 2004 and is scheduled to be completed in 2008. All the accommodation units have been designed with sufficient flexibility to allow for future amendments according to the market needs. Most facilities will be accessible through bridges and elevators and in an emergency, say the designers, the total capacity of 21,000 people could be evacuated within twenty minutes.