JEDDAH, 17 January 2006 — More than 5,000 workers are involved in the construction of a new high-tech Jamrat Bridge in Mina, which will be completed in three years, according to Habeeb Zainul Abideen, deputy minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
He said work on the new bridge, which is designed to hold more than three million pilgrims in peak hours, would start soon after removing the debris of the old bridge, which is being demolished.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has sanctioned SR4.2 billion for the project, which was planned to avoid the recurrence of stampedes that have resulted in deaths during this year’s Haj and in the past.
Binladin Group, which won the contract, has set up a large factory in Bahra, near Jeddah, to manufacture pre-cast concrete blocs required for the project.
Zainul Abideen said the launch of the project soon after the Haj has nothing to do with the stampede that killed more than 360 pilgrims in Jamrat this year.
“The project was approved by authorities in the middle of last year,” he said.
The project includes expansion of the area around Jamrat, its automatic cleaning and transportation of pilgrims from tents to the Jamrat and back by train.
The new Jamrat, with four floors apart from the ground floor, will have electronic stairs, 12 entrances and 12 exits and will be linked with tents by hanging bridges.
Zainul Abideen said the project also included setting up of the most advanced early warning systems in order to avoid overcrowding and stampedes.
There will be three tunnels: One near King Faisal Street and the second below Souk Al-Arab Street and the third close to a new road.
“The tunnels will be linked with the basement of the new bridge,” the minister said, adding that first-aid service facilities would be available at the basement.
Ambulance vehicles could be taken to the different floors of the bridge through its vast escalators.
The new bridge will also have an air-conditioning system.
Mohammed Idrees, deputy dean of King Fahd Haj Institute at Um Al-Qura University and head of the institute’s Jamrat Bridge design team, said the project would reduce the density of pilgrims at the entrances of the bridge.
The ground and first level of the bridge are designated for pilgrims coming in from east Mina, who represent the majority.
The second level is for pilgrims coming in from Makkah side, the third from north Mina and the new pilgrim residences in the tent city, and the fourth level is for pilgrims coming in from south Makkah through King Abdul Aziz Road.
“This way we can fragment the density of the pilgrims before they reach the throwing site,” Idrees told Arab News.
