The holy city of Mecca is embarking upon a project worth 23 billion Riyals (US$6.14b) to upgrade its infrastructure that is sagging under the weight of 10 million religious pilgrims annually.
Artist impression of the future expansion of Kaa'ba and the surrounding areas.
Arguably the most important global city in the rapidly rising concept of religious tourism, Mecca plans to create new housing suburbs, improve the transport, water and sanitation systems in preparation to receive an estimated 20 million pilgrims by 2030.
Fareed Eshky, a Saudi consultant with Business Enterprise Partnership, said foreign pilgrims for Hajj had risen from 406,295 in 1970 to 1.26 million in 2000 and 1.61 million in 2009. Adding to these numbers are the millions of local Saudis and foreign Muslims who perform the Umrah at other times of the year.
Muhammad Al Hamayel, the Saudi ambassador to Malaysia, said his mission issued 93,497 visas just for Malaysians to perform the Umrah last year, up from 52,696 in 2006. Apart from the Hajj, the other peak pilgrimage period is before and during the fasting month of Ramadan.
Essam Kalthoum, managing director of Bawabat Makkah Co, noted that Mecca had a captive market. “There is only one Mecca. All indications are that demand is growing and we need to accommodate this demand,” he said.
“From an urban standpoint Mecca is suffering as a city – it has an increasing service demand, high seasonal fluctuations, high real estate values, difficult terrain, and high cost of redevelopment. The valley is surrounded by mountains. All this leads to poor structural quality of housing and substandard conditions in a number of areas. Many old parts of the city lack of safe water, sanitation and infrastructure, especially an inadequate road network.”
However, he added, “A city as holy as Mecca cannot afford to remain as is. We need to close the gap between its spiritual status as the capital city of the Muslim world and its current urban situation. These challenges, if handled well, can be converted into opportunities. And we see new huge opportunities.”
MEANWHILE, a Saudi Royal Order has been issued to protect Islamic archeological sites and artifacts in Makkah and Madina, according to the President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), Prince Sultan Bin Salman.
Making the announcement at the opening of the 12th forum of the GCC History and Archeology Society in Riyadh Tuesday, Prince Sultan said that new laws would “protect Islamic antiquities from vandalism and illegal sale”.
“The project is a historical step forward in terms of protecting culture and history in the Kingdom,” the prince said. “It involves a large number of programs, with the 17 exploration projects being some of the most significant. That is in addition to the setting up of an architectural heritage commission and plans to convert state palaces from the time of King Abdul Aziz into museums.”
Read the rest at The Saudi Gazette and Bangkok Post
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