Saudi government will be setting up a solar energy plant in the Taif region as part of its ambitious SR11 billion ($3.1 billion) development plan for the city located in the Makkah province of the kingdom.

The New Taif project, which was launched last year, will see the establishment of a new airport, Souq Okaz, technology oasis, residential suburb, industrial city and a new university campus coming up over a 1,250-sq-km area, reported the Saudi Gazette.

The upcoming energy project includes establishment of solar panels on the bases and construction of management and security offices.

King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KACST) has already started building 600 bases for the solar plant, said the report.

The upcoming Technology Oasis Project, which will come up on a 35-million-sq-m area, will boast a power generating plant using solar energy with the production capacity of one megawatt daily. Another project in the oasis is designed to produce fodder.

Located northeast of Taif, the new airport will be built at a cost of SR3.1 billion over a sprawling 48-million-sq-m area by 2020, stated the report.

The residential neighbourhood in the new city will comprise 10,000 housing units (split between villas, apartments and townhouses), a 11-million-sq-m industrial city and a 16.3-million-sq-m university city.

On completion, the $160-million residential district would accommodate 70,000 people, it added.