Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

Two of Islam’s three holy mosques — the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah — are currently witnessing the largest ever expansion in history. The Saudi authorities have given top priority to serving Haj and Umrah pilgrims as well as to develop the two holy mosques ever since the Kingdom was formed.



King Abdul Aziz and his successors have made immense contributions to improve the facilities and upgrade the services for pilgrims by spending over SR250 billion.



In the history of the two holy mosques a new era began with the launch of the current massive expansion and making available of the best ever facilities and services for pilgrims by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah since he ascended the throne in August 2005. He dedicated the new expansion to the Islamic world. Tipped as the best environment-friendly design with high tech safety standards, the ongoing expansion is designed to increase the capacity of the Grand Mosque and courtyards to 2.6 million and Prophet’s Mosque to about 2 million worshippers.



King Abdullah laid the foundation stone for the expansion of the Grand Mosque at a ceremony held in Makkah on Aug. 19, 2011. Described as the “Project of the Century”, the King Abdullah Expansion Project is estimated to cost SR80 billion. The total area of the existing mosque is 356,000 sq. meters accommodating 770,000 worshippers while the new expansion covering an area of 456,000 sq. meters will accommodate an additional 1.2 million worshippers. Courtyards of the mosque’s new expansion can hold more than 250,000 worshipers. The Ministry of Finance is supervising the expansion project, which is being implemented by the Saudi Binladin Group.



The pilgrims partially benefited from the expanded structure during last Haj. These included the entire ground and first floors of the annex building, and the first and second mezzanine floors. A total area of 167,784 sq. meters in the annex building and 118,790 sq. meters of courtyards around the structure were opened for pilgrims. The annex building’s main gate is named after King Abdullah and it has two new minarets, bringing the mosque’s total number of minarets to 11. More than 10,000 toilets and thousands of ablution areas and drinking water spouts have been set up in the courtyards of the mosque. More areas of the mosque have been air-conditioned and these included first floor of the first Saudi expansion from Safa staircase to the middle of King Fahd expansion.



The expansion project consists of three parts: Construction of a new building; expansion and development of courtyards around the mosque, including walkways, tunnels and toilets; and development of service facilities for air-conditioning, electricity and drinking water.



A 1,200-meter tunnel would be constructed from the end of the expansion site passing through Jabal Al-Hind while another tunnel with a length of 1,100 meters will be built under Jabal Madafie. An emergency 700-meter tunnel crossing the other two tunnels will be constructed, starting from Jabal Al-Kaaba. The entire roof of the Grand Mosque and mataf will have air-conditioned sunshades.



Mataf expansion



As part of the project, expansion of mataf (circumambulation area around the Holy Kaaba) is being implemented in three phases over a period of three years. The expansion, which started on Nov. 15, 2012, will triple the capacity of mataf from the existing 48,000 to 150,000 pilgrims an hour when it is completed.



The first phase also consists of the sound, lighting and air-conditioning system, and mataf for the pilgrims with special needs. The second phase was started after Haj of 2013 and works on the third phase will begin after the current Haj season. Top standards of safety and quality are being maintained while implementing the project. A total of 7,000 pilgrims an hour are benefitting from the two temporary circular bridges.



Mataf on the second and third floors will have cable cars to carry elderly and disabled pilgrims and there will be direct access to these floors from outside. The top floor of the mataf will have an automated walkway revolving around the Holy Kaaba. The mataf structure will also be tremor proof. The Abbasid-Ottoman era portico of the Grand Mosque, demolished for the mataf expansion, will be refurbished and restored once the expansion work is over.



The Turkish Gursoy Group, an international firm specialized in renovation of buildings, is currently finishing the Herculean task of refurbishing of removed pieces and parts of the portico.



While launching the Haram expansion project in August 2011, King Abdullah also inaugurated the newly expanded masaa (the running area between Safa and Marwa), the King Abdulaziz Endowment Towers including the Makkah Clock Tower, the Jamarat Bridge complex in Mina and the Mashair Railway. As part of the project, expansion of masaa, which is located inside the mosque, was completed earlier, and this increased masaa’s capacity from 44,000 to 118,000 pilgrims an hour. The expansion, which took three years from 2007-09, increased the area from 29,400 to 87,000 sq. meters and the running course has been widened from 20 meters to 40 meters. Now pilgrims can perform the ritual of sa’i comfortably from all five levels — basement, ground, first, second and third floors and the roof.



Jamarat Bridge



The hi-tech Jamarat Bridge is another milestone of King Abdullah’s achievements in serving the pilgrims. The SR4.2 billion mammoth multilevel bridge was completed in 2009. The completion of the project, which allows pilgrims to hurl pebbles at pillars symbolizing Satan from all five levels of the bridge, has ensured a smooth and hassle-free stoning ritual that witnessed deadly stampedes in the past.



The bridge, an architectural wonder, is 950 meters long and 80 meters wide, and each floor is 12 meters high. The entire project is designed to hold 12 stories and as many as 5 million pilgrims in the future if the need arises. The project also includes three tunnels and provides 11 entrances and 12 exits in all four directions. It has a helipad for airlifting pilgrims in case of emergency. The Jamarat project also includes an air-conditioning system backed by water sprinklers that can reduce the temperature to about 29 degrees Celsius.



Earlier, the government spent SR4 billion to build the fireproof tent city in Mina. A total of 40,000 tents were erected on an area of 250,000 sq. meters and it has the capacity to accommodate more than one million pilgrims. It took three years to complete the fire-proof tent city whose work started immediately after a huge fire that swept through thousands of tents, killing more than 300 pilgrims on April 25, 1997. The authorities have constructed six 12-story buildings that can accommodate 20,000 pilgrims in Mina mountain slopes, besides unveiling plans to build another 212 residential towers.



Prophet’s Mosque



King Abdullah laid corner stone for the expansion of the Prophet’s Mosque during his visit to the holy city on Sept. 24, 2012. Later in March 2013, the King approved the master plan for the mosque’s expansion, after experts made necessary changes onto the plan as per his instructions. The King ordered quick implementation of the expansion of the mosque’s northern, eastern and western parts within a period of two years. Once the expansion is completed, the mosque will have a total area of 1.1 million sq. meters with the capacity to accommodate an additional 1.6 million worshippers.



Head of the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais described the new expansion work as unprecedented. He said the first phase of the expansion would cover construction of multistory buildings within the periphery of the existing northern courtyard, and the flat roof of the entire mosque structure. There will be a main gate for the new building with two main minarets and two side minarets at the corners of the building. The first phase will add prayer space for 800,000 worshippers. In the second and third phases, the eastern and western courtyards will be added to the mosque and thus increasing the capacity to accommodate another 800,000 worshippers.



The mosque will have 27 new domes. The project includes a helipad for airlifting patients to hospitals, and new roads separated from pedestrian pathways, in addition to a tunnel for pedestrian traffic with escalators.



According to sources, the expansion project also covers massive development of the central Haram area and the unplanned neighborhoods, with the holy mosque as the core center. The expansion will draw on the rich Islamic history of the Prophet’s City and the Islamic architectural designs of the mosque. The surrounding buildings will also be developed on the same pattern.



There will be a system for moisturizing and softening the air in the summer season. This will be through setting up of two stations to pump sterilized water at the sprawling parking area in the basement of the mosque courtyards.



As many as 436 water sprinklers will be installed on 218 pillars to be set up at all the plazas around the mosque. A total of 200,000 pilgrims will benefit from 250 sunshades erected in the courtyards of the mosque.