JEDDAH, 17 January 2008 — The Jeddah Municipality announced yesterday that that annual local demand for burial plots is estimated at 8,000.
The statement goes on to report that 12,445 people were buried in the municipality between June 2006 and December 2007. The current capacity of cemeteries in Jeddah is estimated at 23,197, a number that city officials say will increase to 37,697 upon the completion of the new cemetery at Salihiyya.
Following reports that Jeddah was running out of real estate for the dead, the city has embarked on a program to modernize the estimated 115 burial sites located inside the boundaries of the municipality. This figure includes burial sites in the city as well as in communities outside of the urban zone but within the boundaries of the municipality.
All the graveyards are being electronically linked with a database at the Ministry of Health and area morgues in order to expedite the procedures for obtaining the paperwork for burial. The cemeteries have been instructed to adhere to uniform standards and practices. The municipality has also reportedly increased the number of ambulances to provide the delivery of bodies, but the statement mentioned neither the number of new vehicles nor at what cost to the municipality. The aim of the measure was to expedite the delivery of bodies so that they may adhere to the Islamic rules regarding rapid burial. This service will be free of charge to the public. Part of this program includes reserving 3,000 burial plots to meet emergency requirements. And area of the Harazat cemetery will be reserved for amputated body parts and placenta. The entrances of area cemeteries will receive new facilities for washing bodies as well as highly visible signs. (Because Muslims burial sites are devoid of burial markers, cemeteries are often easily passed by and mistaken for plots of undeveloped land.)
The authorities have also signed contracts with a private company to improve the quality of work at 15 cemeteries in the city, but the municipality did not name the company that won this contract or how much it plans to spend. The cemeteries targeted for this project include: Assad, Ummuna Hawwa, Ruwais, Faisaliya, Tawfeeq, Bani Malik, Harazat, Salihiya and Shahir-2. New walls are being constructed at 11 cemeteries.
In collaboration with the Health Affairs Administration in Jeddah, the mayor’s office has distributed booklets to all hospitals describing the official formalities related to the burial. The booklets also show the names, locations and telephone numbers of the cemeteries so that the bereaved relatives could easily find out to which graveyard they should take their relative’s body. The mayor’s office offers intense training for the cemetery workers on the ritual washing and shrouding of the body before its burial.
