King Faisal and Mohamed Binaden in Mecca
In 1926, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by King Abdul Aziz Al Saud. In 1931 Mohammad Binladin established a construction company within the Kingdom. In 1950, when King Abdul Aziz was planning the first Saudi Extension to the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah ....he honoured Mohammad Binladin by turning to him to fulfil his wishes.
Work on the extension was completed during the reign of King Abdul Aziz’s son King Saud bin Abdul Aziz. As a result of the success of this project, Mohammad Binladin was asked to undertake the extension to the Holy Mosque in Makkah, the first for a thousand years. Work on this huge enterprise started in 1955... ...it continued through the reign of King Saud’s successor King Faisal... ceremony at completion of the First Saudi Extension of the Makkah Holy Mosque and was completed after twenty years, during the reign of King Khalid.
The late founder of SBG Mohamed BinLaden
In 1964 Mohammad Binladin was commissioned to work on the third Holy sanctuary of Islam, recladding the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. As the developing Kingdom expanded its infrastructure... ...so Mohammad Binladin played an integral part in these pioneering years by building a network of new highways throughout the country. The company’s greatest challenge was to construct a two-lane highway from the city of Makkah up the steep escarpment to Taif. Courage and perseverance were needed in equal measure to overcome the rugged landscape.Bulldozers had to be dismantled, manhandled down the sheer rock faces, and re-assembled... ...ready to carve a way through areas where no machinery had ever been before. Within a few years, the 55 kilometre road was completed... ...establishing the company’s reputation as the leading construction company in the region.
In 1967, Mohammad Binladin died ... ...but his life’s work was carried on by his eldest son Salem Binladin, and a selected group of his brothers, into a new era of expansion. The company continued the construction of the 750 kilometre Taif to Jizan road. Running through the Hijaz mountains, the two-lane highway took two decades to complete. A different challenge was faced while undertaking a major road project in the Empty Quarter desert. The problem of drifting sands was solved using pioneering solutions like chemical stabilisation. Successfully completed in 1984 at a cost of over one billion Saudi Riyals the 585 kilometre road network plays a vital role in connecting the town of Sharoura to Najran, Solayel and the rest of the Kingdom When Salem Mohammad Binladin died in 1988, some of his brothers, pursuing expansion and diversification, reorganized the business. In 1989 the Saudi Binladin Group was established, and today stands as the latest principal and independent organisational structure in the business's long history.