Special interest Special Interest News Islam Prophet’s Mosque expansion
Prophet’s Mosque expansion
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- Published on Saturday, 07 July 2012 05:43
- Written by BC-Stuff
The Ministry of Finance Friday said reports on the acquisition of buildings for the expansion of the Prophet's Mosque are incorrect and far from the truth.
A ministry source said reports which recently appeared in a section of the press are based on "imprecise information about the number of the buildings, their areas, time set for their removal, price of a square meter and total value of compensation."
In a statement to Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the source said the publishing of incorrect information on vital matters like this may mislead some owners who may take decisions based on the false information they have. The ministry, the source said, will publish all steps related to the execution of the expansion plan of the Prophet's Mosque at a later stage.
A week ago, King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, ordered the expansion of the mosque to accommodate about 1.6 million more worshipers.
The three-phase project is to start after this year's Haj in the last week of October. The first phase will accommodate more than 800,000 worshipers while the second and third will accommodate an equal number of worshipers.
The Prophet's Mosque has been expanded twice during modern times. The first expansion was suggested in 1949 during the time of King Abdul Aziz, the Kingdom's founder, and was carried out in nine years starting from 1951. The second expansion initiated by King Fahd started in 1984 and was completed in 1994.
During the first expansion of the Prophet's Mosque, four minarets were added in addition to 18 ordinary staircases. During King Fahd's rule, six new minarets were added to bring the total number of new minarets to 10 and six electric staircases were established raising the number of staircases to 24.
