Business & Money | Sunday 29 November, 2015 2:38 am |

Construction of the King Salman Bin Abdulaziz and Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz investment towers in Makkah is expected to begin soon, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported Saturday.

The two 12-storey hotel towers are charity projects belonging to the Disabled Children Association. The total cost is SR140 million and they will take 36 months to complete.

The King Salman and Prince Sultan tower projects will be carried out on a joint area of 5700 sq. meters on a plot of land owned by the Association in Al-Naseem district on Taif-Al Hada Road in Makkah.

Earlier during the holy month of Ramadan, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman laid the foundation stone for the two tower projects. The Monarch also donated SR50 million as support for them.

Prince Sultan Bin Salman, chairman of the board of directors of the Disabled Children’s Association, is scheduled to sign on Sunday the contracts for supervision and carrying out the two projects, Awad Abdullah Al-Ghamdi, secretary general of the Association stated to the press.

The two hotel tower projects come within the Association’s plans to have permanent sources of income so as to support the budget for operating its centers and free services.

The King Salman hotel tower project will have two floors in the basement for parking lots, a mezzanine and 12 floors with a built-up area exceeding 20,000 sq. meters. The hotel tower will have 255 rooms, 14 hotel suites and a mall.

The Prince Sultan hotel tower will have a two-floor parking lot in the basement, 12 floors, 250 hotel rooms, shops and a built-up area of 18,000 sq. meters. The tower will also comprise a mezzanine for restaurants and services.

The two hotel towers come within an unprecedented investment charity project that also comprises a tower for Saudi Telecom Company (STC) clients, another for Panda clients and a fifth tower for the Holy Qur’an Contest for disabled children. The total cost of the five towers is SR300 million. The architectural designs for all the project’s units have been completed.

The Disabled Children’s Association took the decision to construct the two towers in appreciation and in gratitude for King Salman and the late Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz for their generous support for the Association and the issue of disability for many years. The two towers will bear their names for their magnanimity that is an example to be followed.

Al-Ghamdi expressed thanks and appreciation to King Salman and to the philanthropists, companies and banks that took the initiative to contribute to the project. He described it as a charity in the purest place. The revenues from the project will be allocated for spending on healthcare, education and rehabilitation provided by the Association’s centers to thousands of physically challenged children in all of the Kingdom’s regions.

The architectural designs for the two hotel towers have been completed. After a competition, the contractor and consultant have been chosen.

Individuals, companies and establishments can contribute to the projects with shares, each costing SR1000. The shareholder will be granted a shareholding document in the charity project signed by the Association’s chairman of the Board of Directors and chairman of the Investment Committee.

The shareholder will authorize the Association to allocate the revenues from the shares to support expenses for operation of the Association. The names of the big shareholders will be documented on an honorary plaque on the project’s buildings.