Medina To Be Redeveloped After Haj Season This Year

MEDINA, July 25 (Bernama) -- The Saudi Arabian government will redevelop Medina in line with the development currently being carried out in Mecca as part of efforts to provide better services to Muslims all over the world that come to the two holy cities to perfom the haj, umrah and ziarah.

Source from (Bernama): http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/ge/newsgeneral.php?id=965989
Published: July 26, 2013

The massive upgrading of Medina City, especially the Prophet Mosque (Nabawi), will start immediately after the haj season this year.

Ministry of Haj Deputy General Manager (Madinah) Mohammad Al-Arabi said following the three-year redevelopment exercise started in Mecca after the Haj season last year, it was time for Medina to see the same massive upgrading process.

"As you know, there have been great projects in Mecca, the expansion of the grand mosque, now it's time for Medina (Nabawi Mosque). The expansion plan has already been approved by the king (King Abdullah).

"It will continue in parallel. It will be a full expansion. From 800,000 people (congregators) to 1.6 million in the mosque. The early process actually had started. It will continue without taking a toll on the capacity of people staying in Medina," he told Malaysian reporters here.

Earlier, he had a discussion with Tabung Haji group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Ismee Ismail.

Mecca is currenty undergoing a massive redevelopment plan. This involves the expansion of Masjidil Haram, including demolishing part of the Grand Mosque to extend the praying space.

The 'mataf', an area around the Kaabah, will also be expanded to enable the number of pilgrims performing the tawaf (circumbulation) around Kaabah to increase from 48,000 to 130,000.

Due to the upgrading of haj facilities in Mecca, Saudi Arabia had to reduce the number of pilgrims from all over the world this year by 20 percent and its pilgrims by 50 per cent to ensure the safety and comfort of the pilgrims.

Meanwhile, Al-Arabi said the Ministry of Haj had taken all the comments from previous haj pilgrims and trying to improve services for the coming haj season.

"This year we concentrate mainly on how do we really want the haj pilgrims to be fully satisfied. We want to get closer to the pilgrims...with due respect to the haj affairs. We are listening to them as our customers.

"We really want their trip to be safe. We also don't want them to spend much time on procedures especially at the airport and reception counters. We want them just to head straight to their hotel. We just want them to feel linked directly to Allah. Pilgrims come from all over the world just to achieve this," he said.

He said as part of the process to improve their services, they wanted to be close to the pilgrims and they also wanted to know the impact on and value of the services provided to the pilgrims besides the pilgrims' opinion.

"We also want to know their problems. There will always be some problems. We want to improve the procedure," he said.

On cooperation between the ministry and Tabung Haji, Al-Arabi said he was really proud that cooperation between the two parties managed to help many Malaysian to perform the Haj.

"We listen to them (Tabung Haji) and they listen to us," he added.

-- BERNAMA