Al-Kamil Governorate

Al-Kamil Governorate is one of the governorates of Makkah al-Mukarramah Province, west of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is administratively classified as Category (B) and is the least populated governorate in the province. It is home to 14,370 inhabitants, representing only 0.179 percent of the population, according to the 2022 Saudi Census, and it has four administrative centers affiliated with it.

Al-Kamil Governorate is located northeast of the province, 160 km north of Makkah al-Mukarramah city, the headquarters of the province’s emirate. The governorate is located between longitudes 39°-40°E and latitudes 22°- 23°N. It is bordered by al-Medinah al-Munawwarah to the north, al-Jumum Governorate to the south, Taif Governorate to the east, and Khulais Governorate to the west.

The administrative centers in al-Kamil Governorate, which spans an area of three thousand km, serve the population in over sixty villages and hamlets.

Al-Kamil Governorate is characterized by rugged, mountainous, and challenging terrain, marked by many valleys that descend from the mountaintops towards the Red Sea in the west. These valleys include: Wadi Wabah, Wadi Saya, Wadi Sitara, Wadi Shiwan, and Wadi al-Ayab. The governorate also contains many dams, such as the Murwani Dam, Wadi Shiwan Dam, and Wadi al-Ayab Dam.

Al-Kamil Governorate is home to the College of Business of the University of Jeddah, which began with the Management Information Systems Department of the Computing and Information Technology Section of the College of Science and Arts in the governorate, a branch of King Abdulaziz University. Teaching there began at the beginning of the academic year 2009-2010. In 2011, the Council of Education issued a decision to restructure the College of Science and Arts into three colleges, one of which is al-Kamil College of Business.

The college includes seven scientific departments: Management Information Systems, Human Resources Management, Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Health and Hospital Management, and Law. In 2014, the university branch at al-Kamil was integrated into Jeddah University.

Residents and visitors of al-Kamil Governorate use King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah, the nearest airport, located 139 km away. It is an international airport with a capacity of more than fifteen million passengers annually.

The governorate can be reached via Highway fifteen, which starts from al-Wadi'ah port in the south of the Kingdom and ends in Tabuk Province at the Saudi-Jordanian border. The road is the main land access route to and from al-Kamil.

Within the framework of the development and services efforts in al-Kamil Governorate, a water desalination project was inaugurated in 2022. The plant is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, where desalinated water is pumped through six discharges. The project site spans thirty thousand m, with a production capacity of 270 water tanks per day. The capacity of the operational reservoir is three thousand m, fed from the governorate's main reservoir with a capacity of ten thousand m.

Al-Kamil Governorate has many tourist and heritage sites representing various historical periods and eras. One of its most prominent archaeological and tourist sites is Shamanseer Mountain, towering about one thousand feet above sea level, and characterized by its moderate atmosphere, spectacular scenery, and varied trees. The mountain contains a communication center for civil defense operations and a dirt helipad.