The Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ has completed a large part of the works of the Roads and Infrastructure Development Project in Al Mearad and Southwest Muaither - Package 6, as 60% of the total project work has been completed and about 55% of the roads planned for development have been opened for traffic use.
In this context, Eng. Fahad Mohammed Al-Otaibi, Head of West Areas Section at the Roads Projects Department at Ashghal, confirmed that the project is being implemented as part of a development plan for the areas of Al-Mearad and Southwest of Muaither that includes a total of five packages. It is considered one of the most important projects that the authority is currently implementing due to its strategic location which serves many residential units, health centres, educational and commercial facilities, and others.
Eng. Fahad Al-Otaibi explained that package 6 of the project will serve, upon completion of all its works, a total of 853 plots by providing a network of internal roads and infrastructure networks to meet the needs of population expansion in the area and will bring many benefits to the population in terms of enhancing traffic flow and easing congestion, facilitating movement to and from Southwest Muaither and developing the quality of infrastructure services, in addition to reducing the groundwater level in the area.
Before commencement of works, the geographical scope of the project was divided into four phases that will be implemented successively, to mitigate the inconvenience caused by construction works and to accelerate completion of each phase.
Project works includes the provision of an integrated roads network with a total length of 30 km, along with the provision of traffic safety elements such as lighting systems, including 1,185 street lighting poles, directional signs and road signs, in addition to providing 10,000 car parking lots. Pedestrian and bicycle paths of 6 km will be provided, and landscaping works and green spaces will be implemented on an area covering about 37,455 square metres.
As for infrastructure development works, they include the construction of a total of 18 km of sewage network, 28 km of surface, groundwater and stormwater drainage network, and 14 km of TSE network.
The completion percentage of project works has reached 60%, and works are currently underway to complete laying of rainwater TSE network lines as well as micro-tunneling works. All project works are expected to be completed in Q4 of 2023.
As for the works that have been implemented so far, 55% of the total roads have been developed and opened for traffic, in addition to completing 60% of the sewage network and 66% of the treated water network used for irrigation. Also, 80% of the rainwater drainage network works have been completed.
It is worth noting that the Roads and Infrastructure Development Project in Al-Mearad and Southwest Muaither is in line with the authority's strategy to encourage the local product, as the percentage of reliance on local components is 85% of the total materials and elements used in the project, including drainage and water pipes, lighting lamps and poles, traffic light poles and other items that were previously imported from foreign countries.