Abdulaziz Ghazzawi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — The Ministry of Haj will monitor the movement of buses transporting pilgrims electronically, according to the ministry's undersecretary for development projects.



"The ministry is using the latest technology to run its activities especially the electronic monitoring of the movement of buses transporting pilgrims," Suhail Al-Sabban said.



He said the move necessitates the production of an electronic digital map for Makkah, Madinah, the holy sites and Jeddah which is the gate to the Two Holy Mosques.



Al-Sabban said the ministry has developed a geographical database for the holy sites from the data available in the municipalities of Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah.



"We have also built a geographical database for the holy sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah showing vacant areas and the location of tents for the pilgrims," he said.



Al-Sabban said an electronic map is ready to be used in guiding buses transporting pilgrims, pinpointing their exact locations, speed and other matters.



"The map will also be used to guide lost pilgrims find their tents. It will also show the locations of important service utilities such as hospitals and police stations," he said.



Al-Sabban said an electronic device, which has been developed with the help of King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, will be planted in 15,000 buses starting the upcoming Haj season to indicate their whereabouts, speed and any technical problems that drivers may face.



"This device will make it easy for the operations room to manage the Haj transport services and inform drivers about busy streets and traffic jams," he said.



The undersecretary said in addition to the buses, trains will also be used to transport pilgrims between Makkah and the holy sites.



He said since the trains will transport pilgrims between railway stations only, pilgrims will need to use buses to reach their final destinations.



He said buses will shuttle as many as 44,000 pilgrims an hour especially during the time of the assent from Mina to Arafat then Muzdalifah and back to Mina.