Prince Abdullah Bin Bandar

:: Prince Abdullah Bin Bandar, acting emir of Makkah, on Monday inspected the ongoing renovation work of the Zamzam well in Makkah.

About 90 percent of the work has already been completed and the seven-month renovation project will be completed by the middle of April.

Prince Abdullah thanked the Ministry of Finance, Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques, Haram Security Forces, and all those associated with the project for the efforts being made to complete the project before the deadline.

Accompanied by Sheikh Abdurahman Al-Sudais, head of the presidency, Abdul Fattah Moshat, deputy minister of Haj and Umrah, and several officials, the acting emir inspected the progress of renovation work that will help increase the quantity of the holy water being pumped out of the well.

More than 250 engineers, technicians and laborers, supported by 11 cranes, work round the clock to build five Zamzam water transits inside the Grand Mosque complex as part of the project to renovate the historic well.

The work hours on the project, which started in October, reached around one million. Around 96 percent of supervising engineers at the project site are Saudis and a total of 693 students from 16 Saudi universities have been provided with training at the site.

The Zamzam well project has two parts. The first part is to build five transits from the eastern side of the mataf (circumambulation area around the Holy Kaaba) while the second part involves sterilizing the water and removing concrete and iron particles from the area surrounding the well.

The renovation project involves upgrading the system for storing, pumping and distributing the holy water in a way ensuring its cleanliness and safety in the best manner.

The second phase of the project intends to purify the water as far as possible from harmful materials.

The project is also said to include the development of a special type of sterile gravel with high water permeability, allowing better flow of Zamzam water.

Prince Abdullah Bin Bandar