JEDDAH, 15 November 2004 — Four national companies are competing to win the SR4 billion contract for the expansion of the Jamrat bridge in Mina. The Municipal and Rural Affairs Ministry is expected to review their offers next month to declare the winner and start the project soon after this Haj season.
Three underground tunnels will be built to accommodate traffic and separate pedestrian pilgrims from vehicles as part of the project designed to serve four million pilgrims annually, according to Dr. Habib Mustafa Zainul Abideen, deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs.
The new tunnels to be constructed under the Jamrat area are King Faisal Tunnel, Suk Al-Arab Tunnel and Jowhara Street Tunnel and will be used exclusively by vehicles.
The ambitious project, which took three years to plan and is designed to raise the throughput from 100,000 to 500,000 pilgrims an hour, incorporates safety features and state-of-the-art crowd control measures to reduce the possibility of repeats of the stampedes and resultant deaths that have marked some Haj seasons in recent years.
“Crown Prince Abdullah has instructed the authorities to implement the project soon after Haj,” an informed source said, adding that pilgrims will be able to use the facility after the completion of the project’s first phase.
“The project must be designed to separate pedestrian pilgrims from vehicle traffic,” the crown prince instructed the officials while reviewing the plan last Wednesday.
“The ministry has completed studies on the project’s architectural designs and it will be implemented in four phases within five years,” Zainul Abideen said. The ministry has put a condition that the company implementing the project should have a capital of not less than SR2.5 billion.
Haj Minister Iyad Madani said the new Jamrat design where the shape of the basement has been changed from round to oval would increase its capacity.
The new bridge will have four levels and the pillars holding the bridge will be built along its edge to allow the uninterrupted movement of pilgrims.
Access to the new bridge will be through two entrances from the Makkah side. Approaching from Aziziya, pilgrims will go straight to the second floor of the Jamrat overpass.
From north Mina, pilgrims will be routed to the third floor and those from south Mina will be directed to the fourth floor.
Electronic gates with direction signs will control the crowds. The ground floor will be an open area with no gates. The first expansion of the Jamrat was carried out in 1975 when the bridge was constructed.
Meanwhile, work is under way to renovate the existing Jamrat bridge at a cost of SR100 million.
The renovation project includes changing the shape of the basin used to throw stones by pilgrims from round to oval to accommodate more pilgrims, addition of new entrances and exits and installation of boards for the guidance of pilgrims.
