First Makkah pact signed under Saudi Vision 2030

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01 July 2016
JEDDAH: Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, adviser to the king, has signed the region's first agreement under Vision 2030, to supply water to Taif's new international airport.

The National Water Company (NWC) and the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) inked the pact at the governor's office in Jeddah. This comes after a meeting between him and Minister of Transport Sulaiman Al-Hamdan and GACA's chairman, a local publication reported on Thursday.

The meeting proposed the formation of a committee with representatives from the emirate, GACA, NWC, Saudi Electricity Company, Makkah's roads department and Taif municipality to discuss how to deal with challenges facing the project including the construction of infrastructure, in a cost-effective manner.

The agreement would see GACA and the NWC jointly oversee the SR600 million project to supply water for the increasingly expanding airport, which now handles about 5 million passengers a year. There has recently been an upsurge in demand for local and international flights at the airport.

The new international airport project is in the northeast of Taif over 48 million cubic meters, near the historic Souq Okaz. There has been a massive investment to provide new departure and arrival terminals covering domestic passengers, tourists and pilgrims, in line with International Civil Aviation Organization standards.