Saudis target 30 water plants

Saudi Arabia will have 30 desalination plants serving the Kingdom's water needs once the expansion plans are completed over the next decade.

A strategy drawn up by the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) focuses on expanding desalination plants and building new water networks, developing its manpower and research programmes and increasing private sector participation in projects.

Facelift for Jeddah Inter-Con

Jeddah: The Jeddah Inter-Continental Hotel is to kick off an extensive phased renovation this August.

The first phase will involve the complete renovation of its coffee shop (Al Ferdaus Restaurant) and the introduction of new syndicate meeting rooms fully equipped with latest conferencing facilities, according to general manager Bander Harbi. The second phase involves renovation of 200 of its 350 guest rooms.

Taif to get cable car, toboggan

Taif: A new cable car and toboggan project in Taif will open to tourists this summer, a senior official said.

'Prince Abdulmajeed bin Abdulaziz, the governor of Makkah and chairman of Taif Investment and Tourism Company, has issued directives to complete work on the cable car and toboggan project to be ready for use this summer,' the governor of Taif, Fahd bin Abdulaziz bin Muammar, was quoted by local press reports as saying.

Located on the Al Hada mountain, the project is expected to the largest in the Middle East, with a total of 50 cable cars plying the Al Hada and Al Khar area.

The eight-passenger cable cars, which are being installed by the Austrian firm Doppelmayer, will traverse a distance of 4.2 km between the two terminals and will have a capacity to carry 1,000 people per hour.

In addition, Saddad, the lower station, will be developed into a tourist village.

Contractor fired for delaying project

Riyadh: A Saudi contractor who failed to erect a building after being eight years on the job has been slapped with a heavy SR750,000 ($200,000) fine and removed from the project, a local report said.

The contractor started work on a Health Ministry project that called for an extension to Badr General Hospital, back in 1993, but is alleged to have diverted SR8 million of the funds towards other purposes, resulting in frequent work stoppages, the Arab News reported.

The 150-bed hospital in Badr, 150 km from Madinah, is designed to serve 27 villages in the governorate. A SR13 million contract has now been given to another contractor who is expected to complete construction in a short period.