Future development in Makkah will be more in tune with traditional architecture, the mayor says. The historic city, the birthplace of Islam, is studded with dozens of yellow and red cranes and metal scaffolding aimed at increasing hotel space and improving facilities to make the annual Haj pilgrimage safer and easier. As almost three million Muslims from across the world flood Makkah's narrow streets for the annual pilgrimage, however, many visitors and residents point to a 600-meter tower surmounted by a huge clock as evidence development has moved too quickly. “The building regulations in the city take into consideration the width of the streets, central locations and do not allow the building of skyscrapers ... what was built was that,” Mayor Osama Al-Bar told Reuters when asked about the tower. Future projects “will be far from the Grand Mosque by 300 meters ... The buildings will have reasonable heights between 8 to 10 floors and will have the Makkan style,” he said. Within six years, the government hopes to reinforce the infrastructure surrounding Makkah's Grand Mosque replacing congested narrow roads with new ones, installing foot bridges for pedestrians and a four-line metro. On Tuesday, Crown Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior, said the development that had already taken place would “be little compared to what will happen.” An hour before evening prayer, the marble floor around the Grand Mosque is hardly visible as millions of worshippers stand side-by-side, lining their prayer mats outside the overflowing mosque to reserve a spot in anticipation for the call to pray. The pilgrimage was once the culmination of an arduous desert journey over perilous weeks or months, but with the advent of modern transport, the number of Hajis has risen to millions, gridlocking the city's roads and compromising safety. Stampedes, tent fires and other accidents have several times caused hundreds of deaths, forcing the government to spend on new infrastructure. “For sure (the expansion) will be good for pilgrims because usually there are huge numbers of pilgrims, especially during prayer times,” Ahdab Seif, an Egyptian pilgrim, said outside the Grand Mosque. Long-term projects around the mosque will include hotels, malls and cafes. Developments in the suburbs include housing estates and a park for residents who have been made to relocate from the city center. “Makkah is known to be an old city ... it has some old haphazard buildings located near the Grand Mosque and this project will reshape the face of Makkah and raise the capacity and services of the city,” Al-Bar said. “By 2020 we hope that results will be visible as major parts of the projects will be complete,” he said, sitting behind his wooden desk at the Makkah municipality. Among the announced projects, which will cost more than $30 billion, is a historic expansion of the Grand Mosque to add 400,000 square meters and add shaded areas to shelter worshippers from the scorching desert sun. A square foot of land around the Grand Mosque has in some cases reached up to $18,000, Al-Bar said, significantly higher than average prices of around $4,420 in Monaco.
