The Mayoralty of Makkah has deployed 5,000 cleaners in Mina for emptying rubbish containers used when pilgrims were there for Haj rituals. Eng. Abdulsalam Mashat, Undersecretary for Services in the mayoralty, said stored rubbish and other waste products in Mina are being removed by employing vehicles specially made for the purpose. Hundreds of large containers were used to store about 15 tons of rubbish during the days of Tashreeq, he said. The mayoralty has removed more than 564 tons of rubbish from the holy sites during the first three days of Eid Al-Adha, implementing advanced methods utilizing about 605 machines. He said the mayoralty together with the contractor is working on disposing of waste in an environmentally-safe way. The mayoralty has also deployed a number of teams to carry out comprehensive insecticide campaigns in Mina, and has supervised the cleaning and maintenance of slaughterhouses in Al-Muaisim area. As the last groups of pilgrims have left the holy sites, the noise of giant machines could be heard in Mina on Saturday morning that resumed work on construction of the fifth floor in the fourth and final phase of the Jamrat Bridge project. The fifth floor will be allocated for the use of pilgrims staying in buildings located in the foothills of the mountains. The tent city of Mina in general is to witness 10 other projects that will cater for pilgrims next year, including studying the possibility of building housing for pilgrims on the foothills of Mina mountains; the southern railway project; improving guidance in the holy sites; designing, planning and improving toilets; connecting the Shabain and Muaisim areas to the entry and exit of the Jamrat Bridge's third floor; and connecting Al-Aziziyah District to the bridge's fourth floor. Other projects include the design and planning of car parking lots, reconstruction of Mina Al-Wadi Hospital, drainage of rainwater through the foothills of Mina's northern mountains, and the SR1.5 billion rainwater drainage project for roads linking the holy sites to Makkah. Dr. Habeeb Zain Al-Abideen, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, and head of the central administration for development projects, said the proposed building at the foothills is aimed at increasing the capacity of Mina to accommodate more pilgrims. He said if the decision is taken to carry out such a project, it will be connected to Arafat, Muzdalifa and Makkah through a road network connected to the Jamrat Bridge. Meanwhile, Dr. Khaled Marghalani, spokesman for the Health Ministry, has said next year will witness the development of Arafat General Hospital for which a sum of SR20 million has been allocated. This is in addition to other plans such as starting the second phase of the Namira Hospital development project at an estimated cost of SR10 million and the completed projects including the development of Mina Hospital at a cost of SR3 million and the development of five health centers in Arafat. He noted that the ministry will begin demolishing Mina Al-Wadi Hospital next week so as to build a new 136-bed hospital in its place. This project will take less than a year and the new hospital will be operational during next year's Haj.
