Sulaiman Al-Bathi said the tender to execute the three-year project was offered to a consultancy office to survey the graves and number them. "This will put an end to the old methods used by families, relatives and friends to identify the graves of their loved ones," he added.
He said the first phase of the project will cover eight graveyards in the city and added the numbering would start after three months.
Al-Bathi explained that there would not be any tombstones carrying the number of every grave because climatic conditions might destroy or conceal them, but there will be an electronic program showing the burial area, the number of rows and the columns under which the graves are found.
He said in its first phase the survey will cover Al-Oud, Southern Riyadh, Al-Naseem, Umm Al-Hamam, Araka 1, Umm Al-Hasa, Hijrat Heit and Laban cemeteries.
Al-Bathi said before leaving the cemetery, the relatives will be briefed on the electronic program showing the exact place of the grave together with the burial certificate. "This program will also make the job of employees a lot easier when visitors want to go back to any of the graves," he added.
Al-Bathi said old graves would not be included in the program except those that are still visited by relatives.
"The municipality, which was responsible for digging graves and maintaining cemeteries, responded to the requests of a number of families to know the exact locations of the graves of their dead relatives and came up with this new initiative," he said.
