MINA — Deputy Emir of the Makkah region Prince Saud bin Mishal made an inspection tour of the Holy Sites on Thursday. This is in implementation of the directives of the wise leadership and the follow-up of Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, emir of Makkah and advisor to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. During the tour, he inspected the progress of preparation and readiness of a number of government and private agencies, departments and facilities to receive the guests of God during the forthcoming annual pilgrimage of Hajj. Accompanied by a number of officials from the relevant agencies, Prince Saud began his tour from Arafat where he listened to an explanation about shelter centers in the holy sites. There are four shelter centers, of which two are in Arafat and they have a capacity of 9,300 pilgrims, in addition to Al-Muaisem shelter center, which accommodates 6,000 pilgrims. The inspection tour also covered three service buildings, and the shelter center in Muzdalifah, which accommodates 28,000 pilgrims and consists of five residential, administrative and health buildings. The deputy emir visited model pilgrims' camps in Arafat and briefed on their furnishings. Then he moved to the Jabal Al-Rahma area where he listened to an explanation about the project to develop and improve the areas adjacent to the mountain, which has an area of 200,000 square meters. The project includes public parking lots for buses, lighting the mountain and the surrounding area, and improving poles for climate mitigation and water spraying. Prince Saud then headed to Muzdalifah, and made a field visit to the project to humanize the disembarkation stations in Muzdalifah, which covers an area of 27,000 square meters. It was implemented so that Muzdalifah could accommodate additional numbers of pilgrims, amounting to 18,000 pilgrims. The deputy emir was briefed on the initiative to provide green spaces, which was implemented mainly by Kidana Development Company. Prince Saud was briefed on the first phase of the Mashaer Path project, which is environmentally friendly as it contributes to reducing temperatures. The courtyards of the Grand Mosque and resting areas in Muzdalifah were developed under the project. Works were also carried out to facilitate pedestrian movement for the elderly and people with special needs, in order to facilitate the movement of the guests of God and provide the necessary services. for them. The deputy emir then moved to Mina where he inspected the Kidana Al-Wadi development project, spreading over an area of 33,000 square meters. He was briefed on the project, the design of which was implemented in accordance with the latest technical specifications that took into account the urban identity of the holy sites. The site has the capacity to accommodate around 37000 pilgrims. Prince Saud concluded his tour by visiting the government departments complex. He toured the complex and listened to an explanation of the preparations and readiness to provide its services to the government system, which does not provide direct services to the guests of God as its headquarters. It is located on an area of 1.1 million square meters and can accommodate more than 10,000 people. The establishment of the complex has contributed to saving about 23 percent of the area of Mina so that it can be allotted to host a large number of pilgrims.
