MAKKAH: Municipal authorities have made all arrangements for the huge influx of pilgrims and visitors to holy city during Ramadan, Mayor of Makkah Osama Al-Bar announced yesterday.
He said the municipality has formulated a comprehensive plan for its work during the fasting month, including the intensification of the activities of the municipality’s branches, particularly in connection with cleanliness, environment observation and close monitoring the markets to check prices.
Al-Bar said more than 5,600 janitors will be cleaning the city during Ramadan. He said the janitors will collect garbage in six mobile centers. He added that pesticide teams equipped with 200 spray pumps were formed to combat mosquito breeding.
The mayor said 150 garbage bins were placed at different locations in the city with 50 bins in the central area around the Grand Mosque.
He said in the field of environmental hygiene, teams were established to inspect shops selling foodstuffs to ensure that health conditions are being met. He also said sub-committees were formed to monitor bakeries and prevent begging and street peddling.
According to the mayor, slaughterhouses have been manned with sufficient numbers of veterinarians, technicians and workers in order to ensure that meat is suitable for consumption.
He said car parks on the city’s entrances have been readied to receive the huge number of vehicles in Ramadan.
Sufficient number of bathrooms and rest houses are being built in the car parks, which were lighted and cleaned for the comfort of people coming to Makkah to perform Umrah during the holy month.
Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal has instructed officials to put more efforts to upgrade the services provided to Haj and Umrah pilgrims.
Chairing a meeting of the Central Haj Committee in Jeddah recently, the prince underscored the need to improve the performance of people who work in pilgrim-related industries, particularly in light of the growing number of pilgrims during Ramadan.
Large numbers of domestic pilgrims are currently visiting the holy city making use of the summer vacation.
