PaRiSCaSa
05-06-10, 17:57
Non-Muslims to be allowed to live in part of Medina
JEDDAH // Non-Muslims can never get the feel of what is it like to live in Mecca or Medina, Islam’s holy cities, as only Muslims are allowed to enter them. But this is about to change when the new "smart city" being built in Medina is completed.
Knowledge Economic City (KEC), Saudi Arabia’s first “smart city” – its buildings are all connected via voice, data and video links – will open its doors to non-Muslims as the city is planned to be a window on Islam to the world, one of the project owners said.
Sami Baroum, the managing director of Savola group, the largest private owner in the project, said that one-third of the new city, which will be developed on an area of 4.8 million square metres, will be outside of the forbidden area known as the Haram. It is expected to open in five years.
“For the first time, non-Muslims will be able to experience living within a Muslim holy city,” Mr Baroum said. “They will not live inside the Haram area, but they will be very close to it as they can see the lights of the Prophet Mohammed’s Mosque.”
The city, known as KEC, will be developed fully over 15 years at a cost of 30 billion riyals (Dh29bn) to serve both the tourist and commercial needs of Medina.
The Saudi King Abdullah, who donated the project’s land, worth one billion riyals, owns the majority stake in KEC through his King Abdullah Foundation for His Parents for Charitable Housing. All the revenues generated through property sales in KEC will go to the foundation to provide housing for poor Saudis.
It follows here : http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100511/FOREIGN/705109924/1002
JEDDAH // Non-Muslims can never get the feel of what is it like to live in Mecca or Medina, Islam’s holy cities, as only Muslims are allowed to enter them. But this is about to change when the new "smart city" being built in Medina is completed.
Knowledge Economic City (KEC), Saudi Arabia’s first “smart city” – its buildings are all connected via voice, data and video links – will open its doors to non-Muslims as the city is planned to be a window on Islam to the world, one of the project owners said.
Sami Baroum, the managing director of Savola group, the largest private owner in the project, said that one-third of the new city, which will be developed on an area of 4.8 million square metres, will be outside of the forbidden area known as the Haram. It is expected to open in five years.
“For the first time, non-Muslims will be able to experience living within a Muslim holy city,” Mr Baroum said. “They will not live inside the Haram area, but they will be very close to it as they can see the lights of the Prophet Mohammed’s Mosque.”
The city, known as KEC, will be developed fully over 15 years at a cost of 30 billion riyals (Dh29bn) to serve both the tourist and commercial needs of Medina.
The Saudi King Abdullah, who donated the project’s land, worth one billion riyals, owns the majority stake in KEC through his King Abdullah Foundation for His Parents for Charitable Housing. All the revenues generated through property sales in KEC will go to the foundation to provide housing for poor Saudis.
It follows here : http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100511/FOREIGN/705109924/1002