KABUL, Oct 29: Saudi Arabia would build a massive Islamic centre complete with a university and a mosque in Afghanistan, an Afghan minister said on Monday, describing the project as “grand and unique”.

Estimated to cost up to $100 million, the centre on a hilltop in central Kabul would house up to 5,000 students, Dayi-ul-Haq Abed, the acting Haj and religious affairs minister said. It would be named after Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, he added.

“The agreement was signed last week in Jeddah. The construction will start next year, in a couple of months or so,” Abed said.

The mosque, similar to the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad that was also built by Saudi Arabia in the 1980s, will hold 15,000 worshippers at a time.

The minister said the centre would be run jointly by the Saudi and Afghan ministries of religious affairs.—AFP