SR 1.1 bn allocated for EP civic projects

The Eastern Province Municipality has allocated SR 1.1 billion in the 2013 budget for various new infrastructure projects designed to modernize the Dammam metropolitan area and branch municipalities and to improve quality of life of citizens.
The allocation covers 62 projects including asphalting of roads and rainwater drainage schemes.
“The projects involve the construction of sidewalks, the development of residential neighborhoods, the improvement of streets, the construction of pedestrian bridges and more utility services,” Mayor of the Eastern Province, Daifallah Al-Otaiby, said in a statement reported by the Saudi Press Agency.
“The SR 231 million worth of major projects to be implemented in metropolitan areas include asphalting of roads, construction of sidewalks and installation of street lights,” Al-Otaiby said.
While an allocation of SR 300 million will be used to restructure drainage pumping stations, SR 250 million will be spent to construct overpasses, underpasses and intersections, he said.
He added that SR 40 million has been allocated for the development of residential districts in metropolitan cities, SR 27 million for modifying entry points to cities, SR 30 million for improving streets and another SR 30 million for constructing squares and modifying intersections and SR 8 million for construction of pedestrian bridges. Implementing a smart traffic system in cities will cost SR 10 million, while SR 7 million is allocated for naming and numbering streets, SR 10 million to construct public gardens and children’s playing grounds and SR 5 million for road landscaping and the development of picnic locations.
The allocations also include SR 26 million for gardens and parks, SR 8 million for the study and development of the Corniche, SR 8 million for greater development of Half Moon Beach and SR 10 million for development of beach fronts in the province. The municipal budget has also designated SR 40 million to conduct studies on traffic, planning, environment, gardens and parks.
The mayor said SR 80 million will be spent on the construction of a new building for the municipality at the headquarters of the Urbanization and Projects Agency. Another SR 44 million is destined for constructing buildings for branch municipalities at Northern Alkhobar, Half Moon Beach, and Taiba and the corniche in central Dammam, in addition to buildings for health environment administration.
The municipality will do its best to implement the new projects in as timely a manner as possible, Al-Otaiby said.