JEDDAH, 20 February — With the number of pilgrims projected to double over the coming years, plans are under way to expand camping areas in the holy sites to accommodate the increase. The focus will be in Mina where pilgrims stay for four days out of the entire five-day ritual.
Estimates by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing put the increase at double the current figure of around two million to reach 3.8 million by the end of the current Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2000/2005). The ministry continues to undertake a series of expansion projects in Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa.
Under a quota system introduced in the 1980s, each country is allowed to send only a fixed number of pilgrims based on its total Muslim population: 1,000 pilgrims for each one million Muslims.
Pilgrims safety remains a top priority for planners. Following a massive fire on the first day of Haj in 1997 that killed about 300 pilgrims and gutted 70,000 tents, the ministry introduced the fireproof tents in Mina. The hi-tech fiberglass Teflon-coated shelters are equipped with sprinklers, air coolers and fire extinguishers. The project was implemented in three phases at a cost of SR2.4 billion ($640 million).
The ministry says it plans to increase the camping area to more than 2.2 million square meters by the end of the development plan. This would represent 37 percent of the total area of Mina, which is six million square meters. Out of this total, experts say, only four million square meters can be developed since the rest of the terrain is mountainous. Private firms are expected to be invited to submit bids for the construction works in these sites after the Haj.
The government has already implemented a number of vital projects in Mina spending more than SR10 billion ($2.7 billion). Over a period of 25 years (ending 1995) SR53 billion ($14.13 billion) have already been spent on Haj services and projects, based on statistics by the Ministry of Planning.
