- MAKKAH: The Makkah municipality has undertaken a project to build a drainage system in the plain of Arafat in the eventuality of the area being hit by flash floods.
The municipality has also created eight platforms on top of hills around the plain, creating an extra space of 17,500 square meters for the pilgrims.
Each platform is 250 meters long and 70 meters wide and has toilets and other facilities. The platforms have also been fenced off to ensure pilgrims do not fall off and have stairs to climb on to them.
The eight new platforms, which are to be used in next year’s Haj, have a capacity to house 500,000 pilgrims. Arafat will now be able to accommodate more than 3.5 million pilgrims. The developments are part of the government’s drive to increase the number of Haj pilgrims.
