Saudi Gazette report

MADINAH — The emirate of Madinah region announced the resolution of overcrowding of workers at their accommodation. Some of the workers have got temporary accommodation at hotels in the Central Haram Area (Markaziya). This was in line with a plan endorsed by Madinah Emir Prince Faisal Bin Salman, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The emirate said that it has completed implementing various procedures and measures, approved by Prince Faisal Bin Salman, to end the overcrowding problem and rectify anomalies in labor housing that were monitored earlier in a number of residential neighborhoods.

The concerted efforts of the Employment Housing Committee in Madinah have resulted in finding quick solutions to resolve this problem before the end of Ramadan, and these included providing temporary accommodation in hotels in the Markaziya region until alternative arrangements coupled with all the necessary health requirements are made.

This is in addition to conducting the necessary medical tests to verify that no one was infected with coronavirus as well as providing the necessary healthcare for the infected people and that is in coordination with the Health Affairs Department in the region.

These measures were taken following the monitoring of the situation of labor camps by the concerned field committees, which carried out comprehensive field survey of residential neighborhoods, especially labor camps in the region, to ensure that they are in compliance with the regulations approved by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.

The committees, with the participation of 70 representatives from various government agencies, monitored 800 accommodations with more than 50,000 workers.

The committees succeeded in relieving overcrowding of housing for more than 11,000 workers through a number of procedures, including transferring 3,000 workers to Markaziya hotels, in addition to arranging suitable housing for another 8,000 workers in coordination with their sponsors.

During the period of shifting the workers to their new temporary housing facilities, the authorities provided more than 40,000 free meals and 85,000 food baskets at their accommodation especially in neighborhoods that were under total lockdown, in addition to providing more than 488,000 free meals to workers before Ramadan and during the holy month.