ROSHN Launches Waterfront Walkway Revamp in Jeddah

The refreshed ROSHN Waterfront will be unveiled in early June. - SPA
The refreshed ROSHN Waterfront will be unveiled in early June. - SPA
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ROSHN Launches Waterfront Walkway Revamp in Jeddah

The refreshed ROSHN Waterfront will be unveiled in early June. - SPA
The refreshed ROSHN Waterfront will be unveiled in early June. - SPA

ROSHN Group has announced, in a press release, a revamp of ROSHN Waterfront, a popular destination in Jeddah that attracts over 55 million visitors annually.
It said the initiative "Renewing and Coloring Your Steps" aims to promote community engagement, support local talents, and enhance the public landscape.

Saudi artists will transform the walkway, which will stretch 3,200 meters long and 5 meters wide. Over 200 volunteers from Jeddah will paint the walkway by the end of May covering an area of 16,000 square meters. The refreshed ROSHN Waterfront will be unveiled in early June.
The initiative is a collaboration between ROSHN, the "Lenobadir" volunteering initiative, and Jeddah Municipality's Social Responsibility Charity.
The release said that ROSHN had held a competition for Saudi artists to submit their concepts for ROSHN Waterfront. Thirty-eight talented artists, including painters and designers, showcased their ideas, which were evaluated based on specific criteria. The primary focus was on embodying ROSHN Group's distinctive elements, highlighting the quality of life, and capturing Jeddah's vibrant atmosphere and unique identity, according to SPA.
Ghada AlRumayan, ROSHN Group's Chief Marketing Officer, said: "ROSHN Waterfront has become a popular destination in Jeddah, and we wanted to improve the quality of life for all with our support for Saudi artists." She further noted that the revitalization project will bring the spirit of Jeddah to life through the artwork created by hundreds of volunteers from the local community."
The area was opened in 2017 and renamed the ROSHN Waterfront in 2022. ROSHN's goal has been to help transform the area into a place everyone in Jeddah can enjoy as part of its focus on quality of life. ROSHN Waterfront features several kilometres of walkways, jogging tracks, and cycle corridors.



Paris to Allow Swimming in Seine from July in Olympic Legacy

Swimming in the Seine is seen as a key legacy of the Games. EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
Swimming in the Seine is seen as a key legacy of the Games. EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
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Paris to Allow Swimming in Seine from July in Olympic Legacy

Swimming in the Seine is seen as a key legacy of the Games. EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
Swimming in the Seine is seen as a key legacy of the Games. EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP

Remember the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics?

The fortnight of intense and memorable sporting competition against the background of iconic landmarks amid brilliant sunshine in the French capital, days that will never be forgotten.

And the constant uncertainty about whether the River Seine would be clean enough to allow the open water swimming and triathlon events to take place.

The organizers set the ambitious goal of staging those events in a river long seen as too polluted for swimming and, despite the occasional hitch when heavy rain increased pollution levels, pulled it off.

Now, fulfilling a key legacy promise from the Games, the Paris authorities this summer are to allow the public to swim from July 5 at three points in the Seine which is now deemed safe for a dip.

"It was an extraordinary moment (in 2024), but swimming during the Games was not an end in itself," Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo told reporters.

"Making the Seine swimmable is first and foremost a response to the objective of adapting to climate change, but also of quality of life," she added.

Parisians and tourists alike will be able to take the plunge at bras Marie in the heart of the historic center, the Grenelle district in the west of Paris, as well as Bercy in the east.

Once a favorite pastime in Paris, swimming in the Seine had been off limits for a century until last year due to the pollution levels.

"This summer, Parisians and tourists will rediscover the joys of swimming in the Seine, a hundred years after it was banned," city hall said in a statement.

Swimming will be supervised and monitored, said Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of sports. The city expects to welcome between 150 and 300 people at any given time at the three sites, which will close for the season at the end of August.

As on beaches, a system of flags -- green, yellow and red -- will make clear the safety of swimming according to the Seine's current and the quality of the water.

The water quality will be closely watched, after high levels of bacteria forced the postponement of some of the competitions on certain days during the Olympics.

Checks will be carried out daily, and swimming may be suspended in the event of rain, said Marc Guillaume, the prefect, the top state-appointed official, of the Ile-de-France region that includes Paris.

He expressed "even more optimism" about water quality than last summer, given the work done on making the river cleaner.