MAKKAH — As part of Saudi Arabia's efforts to provide high-quality services to visitors and pilgrims of the Holy Mosques using the latest technologies, the world’s largest cooling plant of its kind has been installed in Makkah’s Grand Mosque to ensure that worshipers perform their rituals in the cool and fresh atmosphere inside Al-Haram.

The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques works on ensuring fresh air inside the Grand Mosque using ultraviolet light air purification technology. The filtration process is carried out nine times a day before releasing the well-treated fresh air into the mosque.

The air filtration process, which ensures 100 percent air purity is carried out in three stages, namely: moving air into filters using fans, capturing pollutants and particles and then pushing back clean air into space.

The director of operation and maintenance administration of the presidency, Mohsen Al-Salami, pointed out that there are two cooling stations inside the Grand Mosque which are the largest of their kind in the world: the Ajyad station, which produces 35,300 refrigeration tons of which about 24,500 refrigeration tons are used, and the new central station with a capacity of 120,000 tons of refrigeration.

The central station is currently feeding the Third Saudi Expansion as well as half of Mas’a (area for the ritual of Sa’i between Safa and Marwa). This station will feed all facilities of the Grand Mosque in the future.

Al-Salami explained that the presidency also makes available backup cooling stations besides the main ones to preserve the set temperatures, in case of malfunction, and ensure the purity of the air inside the Grand Mosque, adding there is periodical maintenance of the air cooling system carried out by highly qualified engineers and technicians. — SG