MAKKAH — Saudi officials from the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah announced on Sunday that the ongoing Zamzam well renovation project would be finalized before Ramadan, Saudi Gazette reported.
“About 50% of the work has already been completed and it’s progressing well,” Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, chief of the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs, told Al-Madina newspaper.
More than 250 engineers, technicians, and laborers, supported by 11 cranes, work around the clock to build five Zamzam water transits inside the Grand Mosque complex as part of a project to renovate the historic well.
Digging machines make passages of eight meters wide and 120 meters long. The work stops half an hour before the call for every prayer and resumes immediately after the prayer.
The project has two parts; the first is to build five transits from the eastern side of the mataf, while the second part involves sterilizing the water and removing concrete and iron particles from the area surrounding the well.
“The second phase of the project intends to purify the water as far as possible from harmful materials. It’ll also increase the outflow of Zamzam water,” an official said.
The area being renovated has been closed for worshippers since the beginning of the project in September 2017 due to safety precautions, except those pilgrims in ihram.