Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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The unprecedented venture of building the Tapline project required an enormous labor
force amounting to 16,000 workers at its peak. The early structures of Arar housed
Bedouins seeking jobs and benefits in the industrial camp. The agreement between the
Saudi government and the Tapline company stipulated that the Tapline build houses and
public facilities for those working in connection with the project. 4 In addition to the Arar
industrial camp, three other major pump stations at A1 Qaisomah, Rafha, 284 kilometers to
the south, and Turaif, 238 kilometers to the north were added. The new industrial
compounds serving the pump stations formed the "Tapline urban corridor" upon which
future growth ensued. At the location of each pump station, an industrial compound was
built to house a professional staff and support facilities to maintain these pump stations.
(Figure 7.1).
The remote, uninhabited area of the pipeline imposed upon Tapline (Trans-
Arabian Pipe Line) the necessity of building complete communities at the main
pump stations, with repair shops, supply depots, airstrips, communications,
housing, hospitals, schools, feeding and recreation facilities and utilitiesevery
thing needed for self-sufficiency. 5
In line with the agreement between the Saudi government and Tapline, the oil
company built schools, health clinics, warehouses, airfields and some public-oriented
facilities. Moreover, the Tapline, at the request of the government, constructed a tarmac
road paralleling the pipeline, connecting the various growth poles dotting the Tapline
corridor, a project which was completed by the mid-1960s. Although the road was
essentially meant to serve the trans-saharan pipeline and its industrial compounds, it
generated a substantial volume of traffic altering the regional urban network and creating
considerable commercial activity of regional, national, and international significance. The
combined effects of creating health services, water, educational and transport facilities have
since bestowed the Tapline corridor's towns with large numbers of immigrants.
Arar's population, in particular, grew during the 1960s at an annual growth rate of
4.6 percent, a higher growth rate per annum than its Tapline sisters (Turaif, 3.5%, Rafha,
3.7) a rate which was more than double the national population growth rate of 2.5 percent.
Between 1962 and 1973, Turaif s population grew from 7,000 to 9,500 and Rafha from
4,000 to 5,500. In comparison, Arar's population increased from 9,000 to 14,000.