Work on the massive King Abdullah City for Pilgrims was launched in Madinah recently with the laying of the foundation for the project.

Attending the ceremony were Minister of Finance Dr Ibrahim Al-Assaf and Minister of Haj Dr Bandar Al-Hajjar.

The foundation stone was laid by Prince Faisal Bin Salman, Emir of Madinah and chairman of Madinah Development Commission.

The SR55 billion ($14.66 billion) project, being developed by Dar Al-Hijrah Company, is located 3km southwest of the Prophet's Mosque. The development includes about 100 administrative and residential towers that can accommodate more than 120,000 guests across 40,000 grade four and five-star rooms.

The project will also house the Haj Ministry's branch office in Madinah, the office of the Higher Haj Committee, other related Haj agencies, office of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities and offices of the Tawafa organizations for pilgrims from different countries, said a report in Arab News.

The project will cover an area of 1.6 million sq m and will take two years to complete. Of the 100 towers, 20 will be used for administrative purposes and 80 for residential purpose. Each building would have 30 floors, the report said.

It quoted the Ministry of Finance as saying the project will include 76 four-star hotels and six five-star hotels offering rooms for 40,000 people. The government offices are designed to accommodate 31,000 employees.

The project will also house a 400-bed hospital. A railway station will also be built to transport up to 84,000 pilgrims daily to and from the Prophet's Mosque on lines elevated above the streets and bus station.

The project will be implemented over three phases: First phase will include the foundation building process; the second phase will cover office buildings and the third phase involves the construction of residential buildings, which would open after next year's Haj season, the report said.