JEDDAH – The Ministry of Haj will build a terminal for Haj and Umrah pilgrims at Madinah's Prince Muhammad Bin Abdul Aziz International Airport. The SR30.13 million project will be completed by the end of this year, according to a senior ministry official. Dr. Sahal Bin Abdullah Al-Sabban, Undersecretary for Transport and Projects at the Holy Sites at the ministry, also unveiled plans to renovate the lost pilgrims' centers in Makkah and Madinah, the Saudi Press Agency reported Wednesday. Al-Sabban said the ministry will construct a branch building for the Agency of Umrah Affairs in Makkah. “Allocations have been made in the current year's general budget to implement the project,” he said. According to Al-Sabban, the ministry has mobilized all its resources to cope with the anticipated huge flow of pilgrims with the start of the new Umrah season. He expected an increase in the number of pilgrims during the 8-month Umrah season comparing to last year. There was an increase of 18 percent in the number of Umrah pilgrims in 2012. Some 5.5 million pilgrims visited the Kingdom last year as against 4.1 million in 2011. At the same time, the number of pilgrims from within the Kingdom registered a slight decrease of 0.25 percent during the year, he said, expressing happiness over the great success achieved in putting an end to the problem of Haj and Umrah visa overstaying. Al-Sabban emphasized the ministry's keenness to make available the highly advanced facilities and the best ever services to the pilgrims, the latest of which is the e-tracking system. The e-tracking system enables the ministry and the concerned agencies to have a better supervision and monitoring of Umrah service and ensuring transparency in all procedures. Moreover, it informs the pilgrims well in advance about the types of services, helps them make a choice and complete all procedures enabling them to arrive here with peace of mind and perform the rituals in ease and comfort, he said, adding that there are more than 2700 foreign agents licensed to extend Umrah services in cooperation with service providers. – SG
