Mecca embarks on redevelopment to cope with massive pilgrimage demand
Published: 18/04/2011 at 12:00 AM
The Islamic holy city of Mecca is embarking upon a project worth 23 billion riyals (184 billion baht) to upgrade its infrastructure that is sagging under the weight of 10 million religious pilgrims annually.
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.
In 2008, Mecca had an indigenous population of 1.7 million. It is located 73 kilometres inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 metres above sea level. Muslims from all around the world visit it every year to perform the Hajj (the main pilgrimage) and the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage).
Speaking at a conference on Islamic tourism in Kuala Lumpur last week, 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."
Mr Kalthoum noted that as part of the transformation plan, a new body called Al Balad Al Ameen has been set up with "tremendous power" to drive the development process, including infrastructure, new suburbs, regeneration of informal settlements, roads and railway links, mass transport systems, water and power projects.
This new body is fully government-owned and acts as the development arm for Mecca municipality. It is commercially established to work as a company with a board that is 50:50 split between government and private-sector members.
"Its main task is to act as a land bank for the municipality in order to create and develop opportunities for the private sector and provide input on regulatory changes," said Mr Kalthoum. "It also has the power to set up subsidiaries."
Mr Kalthoum's own Bawabat Makkah Co has been given charge of developing a new suburb to the west of Mecca as part of a plan to add three new suburbs covering a total of 485 sq km.
He said that although all pilgrims want to be as close to the central mosque as possible, it is no longer possible to keep adding buildings around it, as in the past. The key is to measure closeness by the time involved in reaching the central mosque, not proximity.
Hence, although the new suburbs would be located up to 15 km away, being properly linked to the centre by a good transport system would ensure easy accessibility for the pilgrims.
One rail project already in operation is the monorail that is projected to help replace 25,000 buses from a total of 70,000 normally used by pilgrims.
Designed to help transport at least 500,000 pilgrims within six to eight hours, it operated at up to 35% of its capacity by the Hajj in 2010 and is expected to be at full capacity this year.
If all this sounds rosy, it isn't, Mr Kalthoum said. The plan faces a complex legal framework, red tape and decision-making delays, the construction challenge of a demanding environment, a fear of change among many of those who are involved in decision-making, and some very clear real estate risks.
"And after the 2009 financial collapse, funding is not easy. But it is Mecca and we in Saudi Arabia are honoured to be carrying this responsibility."
Credit: Bangkok Post (www.bangkokpost.com)
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