The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs has executed new improvements to benefit pilgrims at the Jamarat facility in Mina. The Jamarat facility will begin receiving pilgrims from midnight on Monday and Tuesday morning (10th of Thul Hijjah corresponding to Oct. 15, the day of Eid Al-Adha) to the end of Tashreeq days on the 13th of Thul Hijjah corresponding to Friday Oct. 18.
Saud Al-Thekri, head of the project execution administration at the Central Directorate of Development Projects at the ministry, said the new improvements are expected to ease access to the facility for pilgrims and distribute the masses to all four floors, the ground floor and the surrounding yards. The recent linking of the Shuaibain and Muaisam areas to the facility’s third floor is expected to ease access for 30 percent of pilgrims. The project that linked Aziziya area to the second floor is expected to increase the number of pilgrims performing the ritual by 25 percent.
The ministry has allocated 226 electric vehicles for pilgrims with special needs, the sick, the elderly, and women.
Wajdi bin Hassan Toulah, director of the ministry’s Department of Operation and Maintenance at the Central Directorate of Developmental Projects in the Holy Sites, indicated that the electric vehicles will serve 70,000 pilgrims during this year’s Haj season. He said his department has designated a number of mobile workshops to deal with any malfunctions or disruptions of elevators, escalators and moving belts, air-conditioning, water-spraying fans, lighting and fire-extinguishing systems.
Food products readily available in Arafat
Arafat witnessed a day of relative stability.
Large amounts of food products were provided to the guests of the Grand Mosque.
Follow-up teams from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry made intensive campaigns on stalls, coolers and vehicles selling foodstuffs, which were present in abundance and at reasonable prices.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry stressed its responsibility toward pilgrims regarding food, including bread.
The ministry made sure that enough bread was available in Makkah and Jeddah. A large number of refrigerated trucks were loaded with food and placed in Mina and Arafat.
The ministry’s plan this Haj season included 161 refrigerated trucks and 430 licensed food stalls in the holy sites.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry stressed the importance of defining consumer needs in Makkah, Madinah and other holy sites in collaboration with merchants and wholesalers of foodstuffs. The ministry also provided the holy sites with 1,700 vehicles loaded with food.
Mina power usage up by 34% from last year
Abdulmaeen bin Hassan Al-Shaikh, head of the western sector and general supervisor of the Electric Company for Haj, confirmed that the company’s operation plan this year is being carried out as planned. This year, the electricity usage during the day of Al-Tarwiya in Mina has increased, in comparison to the previous year, he said.
Al-Shaikh said, the electrical load recorded in Mina was 220 MW, an increase of 56 MW, or 34 percent, from the 164 MW load recorded on the same day last year. He confirmed that the company is seeking to provide the highest and most reliable service to pilgrims to ensure their comfort and convenience during the pilgrimage.
This year’s plan involved several aspects, he said, including full supervision of the operation and maintenance of the electric grid, strengthening the electric system to ensure the highest degree of reliability through operating the electricity generators at their full capacity during peak times. The plan also involves enhancing the electricity network in Makkah by operating and expanding transfer stations at a voltage of 380/ 110 Kv, as well as operating new sub-transfer stations and expanding some existing ones.
According to Al-Shaikh, this year the company will focus on enhancing the electricity network in Makkah and along the pilgrimage entry roads, in addition to preparing emergency teams to repair any damage to these networks and enhance the distribution in Makkah.
