Jizan

19 December 2022

Spent a day and 2 nights here in Jazan on the Red Sea. A fairly typical, and unremarkable, Arab town. There’s a nice promenade by the Red Sea coast, more of a linear park really.

Wikipedia blurb:

Jazan (Arabic: جازان, romanized: Jāzān), also spelled Jizan (Arabic: جيزان, romanized: Jīzān), Gizan or Gazan, is a port city and the capital of Jizan Region, which lies in the southwest corner of Saudi Arabia and directly north of the border with Yemen. Jazan City is situated on the coast of the Red Sea and serves a large agricultural heartland that has a population of 319,119 as of 2021 and over 1.5 million, within metropolitan area. As the city is the capital of the region, it has the regional airport as well as Jazan seaport. The area is noted for its high-quality production of tropical fruits like mango, figs, and papaya.

Quick Facts

Jazan has one of the largest mega projects market in the kingdom with significant infrastructure projects worth many billions of dollars. Saudi Aramco is building a 400,000 bpd refinery with associated terminal facilities on the Red Sea near Jazan, scheduled for completion in late 2018.

Economy

In the early 20th century, Jazan was a major site for pearl fishing. When World War I began, trade declined at Jazan, moving to Al Hudaydah.

Today, ambitious projects in transport, renewable energy, tourism and agricultural development are taking place in Jizan region, particularly in Jazan Economic City, including a US$3 Billion aluminium smelter.

Jazan is being turned into Saudi Arabia’s naval industry hub. Furthermore, the southern and western outskirts of the city are a place which the Kingdom wants to turn into its agricultural hub due to the water underground as well as the rich and diverse soil.

Jazan Refinery

Jazan Refinery is a megaproject under construction and owned by Saudi Aramco. The Refinery will process heavy and medium crude oil to create liquefied petroleum gas, sulfur, asphalt, benzene, and paraxylene. It is expected to produce 400,000 barrels per day.

Transport

Jazan Port and Jazan Regional Airport serve the city of Jazan.

The Saudi Railways Organization is one of two state-owned companies that operates Saudi Arabia’s rail network along with Saudi Railway Company. The SRO operates a network of railways with a total length of approximately 1,380 kilometers. The network consists of two main lines. A 449 km passenger line that links Dammam with Riyadh, and a 556 km freight line that connects the King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam with Riyadh.

Climate

Jazan has a hot desert climate (Köppen: BWh) with an average annual temperature above 30 °C (86 °F). The weather is very hot all year round and its average annual temperature is one of the hottest in the world, as daily lows average over 20 °C (68 °F) and highs over 30 °C (86 °F) even in the coldest month of the year, while unlike a lot of tropical cities the summer is even noticeably warmer. It is very humid but parched in some months, making the weather very volatile. Sandstorms are quite common in areas further from the sea.

The highest recorded temperature was 46.3 °C (115.3 °F) on 15 September 2006, while the lowest was 5.8 °C (42.4 °F) on 7 February 1993.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizan?wprov=sfla1