Expansion work of the Northern Courtyard (circled in red) in progress around the Grand Mosque in Makkah, Thursday. – Okaz photo MAKKAH – King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is scheduled to lay the foundation stone Friday for Grand Mosque's expansion project. The planned work to develop the sites' architectural, technical and security aspects is considered to be the largest expansion of the Two Holy Mosques and will complete projects started by the late King Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Rahman. Due to the massive size of the project and its diversity, it has been divided into three sections. The first section focuses on expanding the building of the Grand Mosque to accommodate an additional one million worshippers. The second section to expand and develop the Grand Mosque's external courtyards will include work on restrooms, passages, tunnels and other components to facilitate the entry and exit of worshippers and visitors. The third section will develop the services zone, which includes the air-conditioning, electricity and water plants, and other utilities that support the Haram area. The expansion project is bordered by the northern boundaries of Al-Masjid Al-Haram and includes parts of the old districts adjacent to the Haram from the same side. Those areas include parts of Al-Mudda'a, Al-Shamiah, Al-Qararah districts and the area extending from Al-Mudda'a District to the northeast of the Grand Mosque to Al-Shamiah District and Harat Al-Bab to the northwest of the Haram. The expansion begins from Al-Masjid Al-Haram Street in the east and extends east in a crescent shape up to Khalid Bin Al-Waleed Street, and westward in Al-Shubaikah. This is in addition to Al-Mudda'a, Abi Sufyan, Al-Ragoubah, and Abdullah Bin Al-Zubair streets in Al-Shamiah and an area from Jabal Hindi to Jabal Al-Ka'bah Street. King Abdullah, who also ordered implementation of the project to build the Makkah Clock, will patronize the ceremony to launch it. The Makkah Clock, the world's largest at 402 meters tall with a 46-meter diameter, is topped by a 208-meter gold minaret. Illumination from 21,000 green and white lights emanates from its crescent during the call for prayer (Adhan); the light, indicating that it is time for prayer (salah), can be seen from 30 kilometers away. The King has also ordered projects to expand the Mas'a, which has four floors for Sa'iy that are directly connected with the first Saudi expansion floors of the Haram. King Abdullah had also ordered the execution of King Abdul Aziz Endowment (Waqf) for the Two Holy Mosques, which is the world's largest residential-commercial building, with a floor area reaching 1.5 million square meters, and the world's second-tallest building. The Waqf has a separate site for air-conditioning equipment, which is located about one kilometer away to limit noise in the building.
