The Makkah traffic department has deployed 1,500 officers and 500 motorcycle riders to ensure the holy city’s roads are congestion-free this Ramadan.

Col. Salman Al-Jomaie, director of the traffic department, said the officers would largely operate in the central area around the Grand Mosque and around the first and second ring roads.

Al-Jomaie said the traffic department has also established parking areas that can accommodate 20,000 cars, to reduce the number of vehicles on Makkah’s roads.

He said these plans have been put in place because there would be more visitors than normal in Makkah this year because of the summer vacation coinciding with the month of fasting.

An additional problem was the huge development projects currently taking place at the Grand Mosque.
He said that the department has also developed a strategy to prevent trucks from entering Makkah during peak hours.

There would be heavy penalties for drivers who do so. Undercover police officers in unmarked cars would be deployed to enforce the law, he said.