MEA Sept 2017 cover- Six Construct

6 MEA MARKETS / September 2017 NEWS , Re-Designed Jamarat Bridge Successfully Increases Crowd Safety During the Hajj Pilgrimage Along their journey, pilgrims will cross Jamarat Bridge mul- tiple times in order to complete the ritual “Stoning of the Devil,” which is a key component of the pilgrim- age. To ensure that crowds can move across the bridge safely, the Makkah Development Author- ity (MDA), which maintains the religious site, engaged Otis, the world’s leading manufacturer of people-moving products, to find a solution to crowd safety challeng- es at the structure. The original bridge, constructed in 1963, had only two levels, but increasing numbers of Hajj pil- grims forced the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to demolish the original structure in 2006 and start from scratch. When the original structure was built, about 300,000 Muslims made the pilgrimage, but by 2005, that number had increased sevenfold to more than 2 million. Islam continues to be the fast- est growing religion in the world, and the volume of pilgrims to visit Jamarat Bridge is expected to in- crease exponentially. The rapid growth in traffic to the site necessitated a large-scale expansion. However, engineers and technicians had to remain mindful of the site’s historical and religious significance while they designed technological solutions and implemented the structural upgrades. Before the upgrade, crowd density could reach up to 11-15 people per square metre at peak times according to crowd control experts. Local officials report the solutions implemented now afford 1 square metre per person. The new bridge includes five levels, expanded ritual walls, hundreds of escalators, several elevators, two helipads, and an air conditioning system that can lower the desert temperatures in- side to 29 degrees Celsius. “With something this vital to Muslims worldwide, it is vital that outside factors do not disturb the true meaning of Hajj,” said Maged Nagib, vice president and man- aging director, Otis Middle East. “The re-construction of the Ja- marat Bridge was an important Between Aug. 30 and Sept. 5, an estimated 3 million Muslims will complete their holy pilgrimage to Mecca as part of Hajj week, the largest annual gathering of people on Earth. With as many as 300,000 people expected to cross Jamarat Bridge every hour, leading engineers and technicians need to facilitate the safe movement of pilgrims at the site by implementing structural and technological updates while, at the same time, preserving the Bridge’s cultural and religious importance to visitors.