The wheel will be known as the Jeddah Eye and will become one of the city’s key landmarks, according to Ashraf AlTurki, head of the open areas design and planning department at Jeddah municipality in an interview with Saudi daily Arab News.

The Great Wheel Corporation signed an agreement last November with City Centre Development Company to build the wheel, which is scheduled to open in 2012 and is expected to attract up to 500,000 visitors annually.

No details of what it will look like are available yet, but it is expected to resemble the London Eye which is the largest Ferris wheel in Europe. Located on the South Bank of the Thames river it resembles a giant bicycle wheel with 32 enclosed “eye capsules” that can carry about 25 people each.

It will be part of a comprehensive sea side development project involving a total of 17 projects to be implemented in phases and will be surrounded by a hotels, a museum, shopping malls and a variety of restaurants and cafes.

The central area will also have a park, a beach, a museum, an open arena for festivities and a fountain, Al Turki said.

“The city’s rapid growth parallel to the coastline made this project one of the priorities of the municipality’s plans,” he added.