JEDDAH: The Emir of Makkah has urged all employees involved in the Haj services to double their efforts to provide comprehensive services to the Guest of Allah to enable them to perform the Haj rituals with ease and in comfort. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, who is also the Chairman of the Central Haj Committee, made these comments during an inspection tour of some of the projects carried out at the Jeddah Islamic Port. He also laid the foundation stone for three X-ray imaging systems at the Red Sea Containers Terminal. The cost of the project is estimated at SR44 million. Prince Khaled visited the Northern Containers Terminal and the recently expanded quays, which cost SR543 million. The newly expanded quays will be used for the handling of containers. With the expansion of the quays, the handling capacity of the port will be increased from 1.75 million to 2.05 million containers. Meanwhile, Jubarah Bin Eid Al-Suraisiry, Minister of Transportation, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette the total capacity of the seaport has increased from 3 million containers to 6.5 million containers. About the project of the Red Sea Gate, he said work on the project is in full swing and around 90 percent of the project has already been completed. The Emir of Makkah also received pilgrims at the Islamic port and presented them souvenirs. Earlier, Prince Khaled made an inspection tour of the Haj terminal at King Abdul Aziz International Airport. During the visit, he lauded the efforts made by the authorities concerned to facilitate the arriving pilgrims. The Emir of Makkah said that over one million pilgrims have so far arrived in the Kingdom. He was briefed about the plans of receiving pilgrims at the airport and seeing them off after the completion of the Haj. Commenting on the heavy rains that lashed Makkah Tuesday and the preparations to deal with any emergency, Prince Khaled said that all precautionary measures have been taken to cope with any situation. “All government bodies are ready to tackle any emergency case, Allah forbids,” Emir told the media people. “King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz and Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier, have spared no efforts to make Haj for the Guests of Allah as easy and comfortable as possible,” Emir said. Speaking on the occasion, Eng. Abdullah Rehaimi, President of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) pointed out that the new 90,000 square-meter pilgrims terminals were linked with movable bridges. The project, he said, is equipped with 450 surveillance cameras linked to the control rooms.
