Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH – Minister of Haj and Umrah Dr. Muhammad Saleh Bin Taher Benten made a tour of the Unified Agents Office at the Haj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport on Tuesday to inspect the arrangements for receiving the pilgrims, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

During the tour, Benten met with Farouq Bin Yahya Bukhari, chairman of the board of directors of the office and members of the board.

They reviewed the operation plan for this year’s Haj, which called for cutting down the waiting period for pilgrims at airports, seaports and land crossing points, apart from improving the performance.

Stressing the importance of raising the level of readiness, Benten urged the staff to intensify their efforts and improve their performance this Haj season to provide the best services to pilgrims.

Bukhari said the operation plan was tight-knit and distinctive compared to previous years. He added that the objective was to ensure an integrated system of high standard services for the pilgrims.

He said the office had held several training courses for newcomers to acquaint them with the nature of work and ensure speedy completion of procedures for pilgrims during the arrival and departure stages.

Maintenance

The Ministry of Transport said it has completed the maintenance of 400 km of roads in Makkah province in preparation for the Haj season, SPA said on Tuesday.

The ministry said the cost of periodic and preventive maintenance of roads totaled SR73 million. The roads included Taif-Baha, Taif-Riyadh, Makkah-Taif, Taif-Hawiyyah and Al-Hada. The maintenance works also covered roads leading to the holy capital and the Holy Sites.

The ministry has improved connecting roads to Haramain and Briman-Hada Al-Shaam roads that lead to Makkah from Jeddah.

The ministry also improved the illumination on the roads in the Holy Sites while road safety means such as signboards, traffic signals, lane markings and reflectors, speed breakers, warning signs at curves and other dangerous locations have been upgraded.

The ministry has implemented warning vibration technology on the shoulders of several roads in both directions. Over 1,000 km of roads have been equipped with this technology within Makkah province to raise the road safety level.

The accomplishment level reached 100 percent in the majority of preventive maintenance work in projects in Makkah and the Holy Sites.

Repair works are under way for bridges on Makkah-Hada Road and the screening lots in Al-Buhaitah.

The streetlights in the Holy Sites and pilgrims’ grouping center on Al-Hijra Road have also been maintained.

Accommodation

As many as 3,767 buildings in Makkah have been issued licenses to accommodate the Haj pilgrims.

According to official sources, the buildings will accommodate 1.66 million foreign pilgrims during their stay in Makkah.

The housing units are distributed in five districts in and around the central area of Makkah topped by Al-Aziziyah neighborhood, which has 1,751 buildings to accommodate a total of 850,319 pilgrims.