Off the wire
• Ginat Panda in Chengdu gives birth to first pigeon pair of the year  • Interview: UNRWA official urges efforts to ease humanitarian crisis in Gaza  • Singapore stocks end up 0.28 pct  • Roundup: Eurozone growth slips to weakest since Jan. 2015  • Roundup: British voters go to polling stations for EU referendum  • Quotable quotes on South China Sea arbitration concerning U.S. role  • China suspends oil price adjustment  • Xinhua Insight: Tourism booms on plateau after 10 years of Qinghai Tibet Railway  • Cambodia sacks senior education official for sexually assaulting interpreter in S.Korea  • Mortar attack kills child, injuries 6 others in Somalia  
You are here: 　 Home

Report: $10.6 billion in lost business in Mecca grand mosque expansion

Xinhua, June 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

A leading Saudi businessman has revealed losses of 10.6 billion U.S. dollars during the four-year expansion project for the grand mosque in Mecca, local Okaz newspaper reported on Thursday.

Maher Jamal, chairman of the Mecca Chamber of Commerce and Industry, blamed the loss on the decision to reduce pilgrim numbers by around 38 percent in the last four years with the reduced mosque capacity during construction.

When the expansion is finalized, there ought to be a rise in Omra pilgrims up to 15 million, and Hajj pilgrims up to 2.5 million by 2020, and the number will double in 2030, he predicted.

Saudi Arabia announced this week that around 5.8 million Omra pilgrims arrived since the season began, and that the number will increase to 6 million toward the end of the season. Endit