It’s a little strange for a landlocked city to have a port, I guess, but the city of Madinah is going to get one. It’s part of the overall development plan for the ‘Economic Cities” project, the effort to diversify and expand the Saudi economy and provide jobs for the growing population. This Saudi Gazette article doesn’t state exactly where this port—planned to be the biggest on the Red Sea coast, thus outdoing Jeddah and Yanbu—will be located, but my guess is that it will lay between Yanbu to the north and Rabigh—site of the King Abdullah University for Science & Technology (KAUST) and King Abdullah Economic City.

Ambitiously, while the bids are now being tendered, the port is expected to become operational in only two years’ time.

Madina port project to be tendered this year

JEDDAH – Bids will be invited for the construction of the Madina seaport this year, Fahd Bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Rasheed, member of the Board of Directors and Executive President of Emaar in Madina, said.

Al-Rasheed said the port has been designed to support and reinforce the economic growth in the Kingdom as well as boosting the competitiveness of the Kingdom’s economy.

The port is one of the six zones forming the Economic City in Madina. The port will be built on an area of 168 million sq. meters and is expected to be the largest on the Red Sea and the 10th largest seaport in the world.

The seaport, which is to be operational in 2011, will be distinguished for its accommodation and storage capacity as it is expected to be able to accommodate 20 million 20-ft containers. It will also be directly linked to the Industrial City which will facilitate the transportation and handling of primary materials and industrial products.
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