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Authorities have prepared huge parking lots outside the holy city of Makkah for intending Umrah pilgrims and visitors. (SPA)

Over a million visitors are expected to arrive to Makkah during the holy month of Ramadan, according to authorities in the holy city, who said that they have taken all necessary measure to ensure parking spaces are available for their vehicles.

Five locations have been allocated for parking purposes in Ramadan, they said, adding that the parking area will accommodate more than 45,000 vehicles at one time.

“We have allocated a total of 1,500,000 square meters of parking space in five locations in the city,” Osama Al-Zaitony, senior official of Makkah Municipality, said Thursday.

Those are on Makkah-Al-Madinah Highway, Makkah-Jeddah Highway, Makkah-Taif (Al-Sail) Road, Makkah-Taif (Al-Kar) Road and Makkah-Laith Road and are located at entrances points in Makkah.
Al Zaitony said the parking lots will be equipped with proper infrastructure in addition to adequate facilities such as toilets, restrooms and temporary canteens.

Urging pilgrims and visitors to the holy city not to park cars inside Makkah to avoid traffic congestion, Al-Zaitony noted that the new parking location will be in addition to the current parking facilities at Kudai, Al-Umrah and Aziziyah.

Ali Al-Zahrani of Makkah traffic police told Arab News that restriction of smaller vehicles inside the holy city and enhancing the public transportation system have been successful in reducing the number of traffic violations in the city, which is the highest in Kingdom.

He said that extra traffic police would be deployed to control the mobility of vehicles during Taraweeh in the city, adding that special arrangements have been made to assist motorists driving between Makkah and Madinah.

He noted that police would be using the GPS technology in the holy city to determine the location of accidents.

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