900-km border fence to be built

SAUDI ARABIA has announced plans to build a five-layer 900-km fence to secure its border with Iraq, according to state media reports.

Stretching from Hafar Al Batin, near the Iraq-Kuwait border to the northeast town of Turaif, the highly sophisticated fence aims to deter “infiltrators and smugglers”.

Watch towers, night-vision camera and radars will be built along the fence, which will be fortified with 32 rapid response centres, three rapid intervention squads, 38 back and front gates, 78 monitoring towers, 10 monitoring and surveillance vehicles, in addition to 1,450,000 m of fibre-optic networks and 50 radars.

Unveiling the first phase of a security border programme, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah said the purpose of the fence was to cut the “number of infiltrators, drug, arms and cattle smugglers to zero.”

Probe ordered into wall collapse

A PROBE was ordered last month into a wall collapse in Makkah in which six construction workers were killed, the Arab News reported.

The workers, who were Indian and Pakistani nationals, were killed last month when a 12-m high and 50-m long retaining wall at the Jabal Kaaba project in the city collapsed.

Makkah governor Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah called for an investigation and also set up a technical committee to determine the reason for the accident, said major general Jameel Al Arbaeen, director general of Civil Defence Department in the Makkah region.

Rescue workers dug up the bodies of the victims from under the sand and heavy concrete blocks.

Five other workers sustained minor injuries.

University facilities deal awarded

MAJOR Saudi Arabian construction firm Abdullah Abdul Mohsin Al Khodari Sons Company said it has won three contracts worth SR689 million ($184 million) to build facilities at universities.

Under the contract from the Ministry of Higher Education, Al Khodari will build facilities at Taibah University for SR374 million ($99 million) and at Northern Borders University for SR315 million ($84 million).

Siemens and SEC sign contracts

GERMAN technology giant Siemens has signed two contracts with Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) for the construction of SVCs (static VAR compensators) at various substations in Saudi Arabia.

Siemens will install the SVCs at 380-kV substations in Madinah East, Hail-Two and Al Jouf-Two.

As per the agreement, Siemens said it will provide SEC with SVC plus and protection systems, transformers, switchgears, civil and electro-mechanical work within a project execution period of 24 months.