MAKKAH, 6 February 2003 — Two new parking lots around the Grand Mosque have been created for individual pilgrims who have arrived from within the Gulf Cooperation Council states, Ahmed ibn Nami, director of Makkah Traffic Administration, told Arab News yesterday.
Local and GCC pilgrims arriving as individual pilgrims will be allowed to park near the mosque this season, rather than leave their cars in distant parking lots, he explained. “GCC pilgrims are being treated like the local pilgrims,” he added.
Individual pilgrims — those from the Kingdom and GCC states licensed to perform Haj in their own cars — found it difficult to get near the holy sites in the past because they had to park in distant parking lots. “The new parking areas are connected directly to the pilgrim accommodation areas, and so as well as being convenient they will facilitate traffic movement during the rush hours,” Nami explained.
