There are a number of hurdles facing Makkah's Committee for the Examination of Pilgrims' Housing, the committee told the holy city's mayor on Sunday. Members of the committee had conveyed the difficulties they face to Dr. Osama Al-Bar, Mayor of the holy city, during a visit he paid to the committee's headquarters. Sources at the committee said that the most significant difficulty it has to deal with at this time is the shortage of manpower, especially that the committee is in charge of a large number of real estate transactions and housing that need to be accurately and continuously monitored. Large numbers of petitioners following up their transactions within the same period, mostly just before Haj, are another problem that is augmented by the lack of employees to handle the procedures. The sources added that the large number of houses that need to be checked regularly require an adequate number of backup teams, which should be supported by the new additional committees that were created in Al-Azeezyah and Masfalah districts and in downtown Makkah, which became operational just recently. The Committee had started to grant licenses for pilgrim housing as soon applicants started to apply two weeks ago. Engineer Zohair Haddad, the committee's chairman, told the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat that the mayor's visit was an opportunity for fruitful cooperation between the committee and the municipality to weed out the obstacles and solve the problems. He added that the visit also included some licensed buildings for the housing of pilgrims. The mayor was told about the committee's most urgent needs, so as to settle all issues pertaining to the housing of pilgrims before the next Haj season, he said. Haddad said Al-Bar had promised to tackle these issues. The number of permits issued by the committee up to Sunday reached 91. The committee called on landlords to finish their license procedures as soon as possible. __
