JEDDAH, 11 December 2006 — The Civil Defense Department will deploy more than 12,000 officers in different parts of Makkah, Mina and other holy sites in order to ensure the safety and security of pilgrims during the Haj.

“Our department has drawn up plans to face any emergency situation in association with other government agencies,” said Lt. Gen. Saad ibn Abdullah Al-Tuwaijeri, director general of the department. “Following the collapse of a hotel in Makkah last year, we conducted a survey of nearly 6,000 hotels and furnished flats in the city to ensure the safety of pilgrims,” he pointed out.

Al-Tuwaijeri said his officers would use advanced equipment for firefighting and rescue operations during this Haj season. “We will also use 12 helicopters to monitor the movement and condition of pilgrims.”

In a related development, the Public Security Department said it would prevent all Saudi registered vehicles which carry less than nine passengers and are driven by pilgrims from entering Makkah from the morning of Dul Qaada 25 until the end of Dul Hijjah 13. Similar foreign vehicles will also be stopped and re-directed to parking areas outside Makkah.

“All small vehicles with fewer than nine seats will be prevented in all circumstances from entering the holy sites from Dul Hijjah 5 to 13,” the public security department said in a statement. People who want to use their vehicles for the transportation of pilgrims to Makkah and other holy sites must register them at the nearest traffic office in order to obtain necessary permits.

In order to avoid confusion and prevent problems, Mutawwif organizations have begun providing training to their pilgrims on how to use the newly established Jamrat bridge for the stoning ritual.

Faek ibn Muhammad Bayyari, chairman of the Mutawwif Est. for Pilgrims from Arab Countries, said his organization had carried out a workshop for foreign Haj mission members and officials in charge of dispatching pilgrims to Jamrat in order to enlighten them on the new project.

The Municipal and Rural Affairs Ministry will accept the first and second phases of the SR4.2 billion high-tech project from the Saudi Binladin Group today. The first floor of the bridge has two entrances; one for pilgrims coming from north Mina and Souk Al-Arab and Jowhara Streets and the other for those coming from south of Mina, the pedestrian street and King Faisal Street. Pilgrims will be able to leave the bridge through three passages; first and second to Mina and third to Makkah.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has launched a website to facilitate the online purchase of sacrificial animal coupons. Pilgrims can buy the coupons either by using credit cards or through money transfers to the National Commercial Bank at: www.adahi.org, according to Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Ali, president of the bank.

“The new service is part of IDB’s drive to provide excellent services to the guests of God (pilgrims),” Dr. Muhammad Ali said. He indicated that the IDB would inform the pilgrim by e-mail and SMS after slaughtering his sacrificial animal.

“The new service can be described as the nucleus of a planned fully computerized sacrificial meat utilization project,” the IDB chief said. IDB has been managing the Kingdom’s prestigious sacrificial meat utilization program since its inception in 1982.

The IDB plans to utilize 700,000 heads of sheep during this Haj season. It will charge SR405 for each animal. Last year, it distributed 344,291 sheep carcasses among the needy in Makkah and other parts of the Kingdom and 277,000 carcasses among the poor in 23 Muslim countries.