JEDDAH, 26 November 2007 — The Jeddah Municipality has approved its operating plan for this year’s Haj. The plan aims at providing the needs of pilgrims and visitors, according to an official at the municipality.
The municipality’s role includes monitoring, maintaining and cleaning the entire city, especially areas that are commonly visited by pilgrims, said Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, head of the media department of the municipality. He said that more than 140 officials had been sent to the pilgrim’s terminal at King Abdul Aziz International Airport since last month to check every day on restaurants and food outlets inside the terminal. He said that officials are supported by the Civil Defense in order to guarantee safety and prevent illegal cooking inside the terminal. Such cooking is a common practice by pilgrims. Al-Ghamdi noted that the Haj plan also includes monitoring of all food production sectors since Jeddah is the main supplier of foodstuffs for Makkah during Haj.
Concerning the services sector, Al-Ghamdi said the municipality had increased the number of veterinarians and monitoring officials at slaughterhouses in Jeddah. Slaughterhouses are monitored around the clock during Haj because many illegal workers “take advantage of the season by offering cheap methods of slaughter which are unsafe and unhygienic,” he said.
“More than 50 officials are working every day in the three main slaughterhouses, and in the vegetable and fish markets to ensure quality of work,” he added. He noted that the municipality had two ambulances on round-the-clock call to move any deceased pilgrim from any of the land, sea or air Haj terminals.
In conclusion, he said that officials would be constantly monitoring service centers, including rest houses along the Makkah and Madinah highways, gas stations, mosques and public toilets to make sure that they were equipped with safety measures and that all their facilities were working properly to serve the pilgrims.
