JEDDAH, 10 February 2004 — Plans are under way to construct 10-story residential buildings on the mountains of Mina outside Makkah. The buildings will be part of the government’s efforts to house more pilgrims in the tent city where they stay for four days during the annual pilgrimage.
Higher authorities have approved the project to be carried out by the Pensions Department and the General Organization for Social Insurance. The new buildings will be located in the Majr Al-Kabsh region, close to the Jamrat (stoning area) in Mina.
“The first phase of the project will be implemented soon,” Okaz Arabic daily reported yesterday, quoting Muhammad Al-Kharrashi, director of the Pensions Department. He said the two organizations had entered into a partnership to construct the buildings. “We have allocated more than SR250 million for the project,” Kharrashi said, adding that the two institutions would have equal shares in the project.
“The project’s first phase will help house more than 500,000 pilgrims,” he said. There will be a prayer hall and a lecture hall on every floor. There will be electronic stairways, emergency exits, model restaurants, commercial centers and health centers at the facility.
The buildings will be linked to main roads.
Present tents in the Majr Al-Kabsh region will be removed in order to create more space around the buildings and in the stoning area.
The new housing project comes after Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd ordered a massive plan for development and modernization of Makkah and Madinah and other holy sites, including Mina. The Kingdom’s top religious authority has approved the upgrade plan in order to help pilgrims perform their religious duties in a more secure atmosphere.
Kharrashi said the two organizations would hold talks with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and start the project as quickly as possible. “It will take two years to complete. After the end of the franchise for investment in the region, full ownership of the buildings will be handed over to the state,” he said. The buildings will have advanced safety systems and will be constructed in an Islamic architectural style.
According to Dr. Osama Al-Bar, dean of the King Fahd Haj Research Institute, the plan for Jamrat envisages to boost the site’s capacity from 160,000 to 500,000 pilgrims per hour. This will be done by increasing the number of bridges over the stoning area from one to four over a four-year period.
The areas containing the three pillars, currently in the form of circles with a 30-meter diameter, will be given an oval shape on the upper levels and will be 46 meters long and 14 meters wide, Al-Bar explained. “In addition, each of the three pillars will be transformed into a wall on which the stoning will be done at the upper levels, while maintaining the basins’ current shape at the ground level. Some pilgrims wrongly believe that the pillars are devils. The fact is that the holy site comprises only the base, currently located at ground level where the stones fall,” Al-Bar said, stressing that the plan took all religious requirements into account. He said the plan included separate access areas around the site for pilgrims arriving by car or on foot. The site will have 11 entries and 12 exits. Three underground tunnels will be built for vehicles, a fourth for rescue services and eventually a fifth for trains. The first phase of the project will cost SR2 billion.
