Facility will house amenities to be open to the community continued from p.3 "We are not worried about the financing," Kausim said about the centre, which will be about a $12 million to $15 million for the project when all phases are completed. "We can't say exactly when construction will begin, other than we are hopeful it will begin sometime in 2014. We want to build credibility. So, we don't want to just throw dates out there," Kausim said. "We told the public it would take three years for us to work on the site plan and it took us two years and 10 months. So, our target is to start construction sometime next year. That's when we hope to break ground." Officials say it likely will take about three years for the full project to be completed once they have the funds. Well before then, Ninth Line will be expanded into a four-lane road. "We've got to the stage where we are today because of a lot of hard work between us and the Town and the Region, the Conservation Authority, the fire department, everybody," Ruhomaun said. "All our engineers and architects will attest to the fact that it's not easy to get things done through the Town of Oakville. They're so many processes you have to go through to get to where we now are." Less than a quarter of the centre will be a mosque. The majority of the building will be dedicated for all of the other amenities. "These facilities will be open to everybody not just Muslims," Kausim said. "Our intention is to 13 | Friday, November 29, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com At the end of the day, we are building a majestic project... Just visualize what you will see when you get off Hwy. 403 and drive towards Oakville. It will be an inviting structure to the town of Oakville. Everybody will benefit from this. World Islamic Mission (Canada) secretary general Abdul Ahad Ruhomaun open it up to everybody in Oakville. We would like to host a tournament for youths and hope to work with the Town to make this happen." Initially, WIM Canada officials hoped to build a seniors' home, a shopping centre, a medical facility and schools, but none of these are included in the existing project and won't be, officials said. "We are maxed out. There is nothing that will be added," Kausim said. `We had big visions, but it was never for this property." About 250 worshippers currently attend prayers at the existing building, 2478 Ninth Line, where they pray five times a day. The new mosque will be able to serve 1,000 worshippers, but officials say those numbers won't regularly attend each prayer session and likely won't even be reached until at least 10 years. "Our busiest time is on Friday, typically be- tween 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.," Ruhomaun said. "And also during the months of fasting past 9 a.m." The largest gatherings will be during celebrations and public events, officials said. Farouk said WIM Canada could have built a smaller project. "But our intent has always been to build a project, a maximum size project that we could build on this land," Farouk said. "If somebody had built this 20 years ago, the costs would have been 50 per cent less. But we're building this for generations to come. We have undertaken the responsibility to build this as big as we can now so that future generations don't have to build it at a much higher cost. "This is an Islamic Centre, but it's not restricted to just the Muslim community. It's for the community at-large." The location was chosen because of a rapidly increasing Muslim population in Oakville/Mississauga. Proximity to Hwy. 403 means it's accessible to Muslims living in the western part of Greater Toronto as well as Brampton and Burlington. "At the end of the day, we are building a majestic project. Just visualize what you will see when you get off Hwy. 403 and drive towards Oakville," Ruhomaun said. "It will be an inviting structure to the town of Oakville. Everybody will benefit from this." European Engineering Combined With Traditional Workmanship "Building on the Brightest Ideas Around Glass" 905.849.0266