By IINA
Makkah : Demolition of property to the north and northwest of the Haram Mosque in Makkah has begun to create more prayer space for a growing number of pilgrims and worshippers.
The new expansion project ordered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz will add more than 300,000 square meters to the existing mosque complex and help accommodate 500,000 more worshippers, Arab News reported. As many as 1,000 properties in the Shamiya and Shubaika neighborhoods will be demolished and the government has allocated SR6 billion in compensation for property owners. The Saudi Electricity Company and Saudi Telecom Company have disconnected services to houses and hotels in those areas.
The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs is supervising the project, considered the largest expansion in the mosque’s history. At present the mosque can accommodate more than a million worshippers. “This is one of the largest development projects related to the Grand Mosque and will change the face of the holy city,” said Makkah Mayor Osama Al-Bar. Al-Bar said pedestrian tunnels would be constructed linking the northern areas with the mosque’s new courtyard as part of the expansion. The project has dramatically increased real estate prices in the central area of the holy city. Al-Sharief Mansour Abu Rayash, chairman of the Real Estate Committee at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the announcement of the expansion itself had resulted in prices increasing to SR250,000 per square meter in some areas. He expects prices to shoot up to SR1 million eventually.
Hani Al-Amri, a real estate analyst, said owners of hotels, furnished apartments and other properties in Shamiya, Marwah, Raquba and Jabal Al-Kaaba areas would demand high prices in compensation because of their proximity to the Grand Mosque. “This would in turn lead to increasing prices of real estate in the area,” he added. Mohammed Shaker Al-Dahlawi, director of compensation at the Ministry of Transport, said those who purchase land in the area would be able to make huge profits by constructing multistory buildings. Al-Dahlawi, however, pointed out that low-income people, including pilgrims, would find it difficult to get accommodation close to the Haram after the demolitions. The project will cover an entire area starting from Masjid Al-Haram Street and Gazza on the east to Jabal Al-Kaaba Street and Shubaika Graveyard on the west. It will also run through Abu Sufyan Street, Raquba Street, Abdullah ibn Zubair Street, Jabal Hindi and Khaled ibn Walid Street reaching Jabal Kaaba Street.