The Pilgrims' Housing Committee in the Prophet's City has rejected the applications of 75 buildings for licenses to house the expected 2.5 million pilgrims expected here in the Haj season. Engineer Tareq Al-Jehni, head of the committee in Madina, said the decision to reject the buildings mainly centered on landlords' failure to satisfy the Civil Defense safety requirements. A total of 835 landlords had applied for licenses to house the pilgrims. Several of those rejected did not rectify the shortcomings noted in their buildings or failed to introduce the modifications required by field inspectors. Al-Jehni indicated that architectural defects were registered in some of the buildings, notably the leakage of water from built-in pipes into rooms. “There will be no leniency. We will tackle the issues very firmly,” he said. He said the committee will continue to receive applications for licensing of new buildings until the end of November. Al-Jehni expects that the total accommodating capacity of pilgrims' housing will pass the 360,000-bed mark during the upcoming Haj season as opposed to 335,000 beds last year. Al-Jehni said many landlords have asked for an extension of the time granted to introduce the required modifications. According to Okaz sources, five landlords have filed complaints with the Emir's Office against the committee calling for an extension of the time limit, or alternately, for indemnification for the losses they have incurred. Complainants indicated that after the modifications required by field inspectors were started, the committee announced the expiration of the time limit. Al-Jehni commented that an extension of one month had already been granted but that landlords failed to comply with the requirements by the set date. – Okaz __
