Domino effect—Hoping the world’s tallest tower brings well built sewages

Domino effect—Hoping the world’s tallest tower brings well built sewages

Good thing that more-than-1,000-metre building if going to get built in Jeddah. This must mean they’ll be investing in anti-flood systems soon like pipelines and drainage systems.

August 3, 2011 1:50 by shafeer

When Kipp heard that Jeddah may soon be breaking ground for the construction of the next world’s tallest tower, we were overjoyed. It’s not because this now puts a 10-year expiry date on Burj Khalifa’s reign. We’re overjoyed mostly because this could mean infrastructure in Jeddah may finally be updated to a point when flashfloods in this beleaguered city may soon be a thing of the past.

After all, with a $1.23 billion-nothing-less-than-monumental project like this, the world will keep an eye on Jeddah. And Kipp could hardly imagine tourists walking along the streets of Jeddah in Wellington boots on the way to marvel at the world’s tallest building, could you?

It’s a good thing too that the city’s got a decade-long timeline to fix its sewage system. By the sound of it, Jeddah’s got its work cut out. One Jeddah resident told Kipp that some manholes in the streets of this fair city are literally just holes dug deep enough to fit a man. You read that right—literally a ‘man-hole’: no connecting pipelines or water flow systems.

It’s not so farfetched idea when Saudi Arabia is spending more than $400 billion until 2013 in improving infrastructure and an extra $130 million in social spending.

Of course five months from now, this mood of jubilation may be dampened just a bit when January comes around with its rain and consequent flashfloods.

In an interview about the tower, Prince Alwaleed said “This will be a transformational project in Jeddah. It will be a source of pride for Saudi Arabia. Jeddah is in great need for it now.”

Kipp couldn’t agree more. We just hope the transformation will really be from the ground up and all across Jeddah.

If you haven’t seen the photos and videos from last January’s floods, check out this link and one of the amateur videos shot by a Jeddah resident embedded below.