Minister promises to look into concerns over slaughterhouse

Fahd Al-Manaee
Saudi Gazette 
 

MAKKAH – Prince Mansour Bin Mit’eb, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, has promised to look into the concerns of the residents of neighborhoods surrounding the new slaughterhouse in Makkah.

Prince Mansour made the remarks during an inspection tour of various projects in the city Tuesday. He said a court was considering the demands raised by the residents of Al-Khadraa area, which is adjacent to the new slaughterhouse.

“People raised their objections to the project before the court and the municipality gave its justifications. Now the court will issue its decision,” said the minister, adding that the government is determined to enforce the court order.

Prince Mansour also discussed moves to relocate government offices in Mina outside the holy precincts to create more space for pilgrims. He said the idea was mooted at a meeting of the Supreme Haj Committee chaired by Crown Prince Naif, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior. He said the government departments were asked to submit their opinions on the proposal.

On Tuesday, Prince Mansour inspected a number of projects, including the construction of 36,000 new lavatories in Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah at a total cost of SR580 million. The project is being carried out in three phases, with 15,000 lavatories in the first phase.

Among many ongoing projects, the prince inspected work to convert unused land near the monorail into parking space and the project to develop the National Guard camp in Arafat for the use of pilgrims. The two projects are estimated to cost a total of SR10 million.