Muslim pilgrims walk around the Grand Mosque during the annual Haj pilgrimage in Makkah, in this Sept. 27, 2014 file photo.

The Makkah municipality will build the first footbridge in the Sharaie area in east Makkah at a cost of SR5.358 million.

The municipality has announced the location to the implementing company, who will begin work at the beginning of next month.

Head of the municipality’s supervision administration, Sharaf Al-Qurashi, said Thursday that the location of the bridge was chosen carefully to be situated on Omar Qadhi Street, a busy road with many commercial shops in the area. He clarified that the footbridge will be carefully designed with escalators.

Al-Qurashi also noted that the project will ease congestion and ensure traffic safety on roads, reducing accidents. Additionally, the municipality is building the Duqum Al-Wabar overpass, linking Al-Haram Road and Muzdalifah Road with King Abdulaziz Road.

The municipality’s assistant director for roads, Mohammad Abu Taleb, said that the municipality is hoping to execute this project over a very short period of time, no more than five months, so that the season can benefit the most from the development. Additionally, the director of road construction, Ahmad Dahi, said that the longest road in the project is 1,050 meters, which was built in order to empty traffic from Mina to Al-Haram Road.

This led to a great improvement in traffic flow on other ramps and roads.