Mecca crane collapse shows dangers of city's construction boom

The deadly Saudi crane collapse that killed more than 100 people in Mecca at the weekend has exposed a shoddy breakneck construction boom that some Saudis complain is ruining the holy city.

For years, Mecca’s residents have lived with rampant building and development work as Saudi leaders seek to expand not just a holy site that received more than 2 million visitors during hajj last year, but the surrounding metropolis too.

“Every two years they have a new plan that is nothing to do with the previous plan,” said one activist, who like many Saudis was nervous of giving his name. “So they have to destroy a bit of the past. That is why the people of Mecca and hajjees have been suffering for the last 15 years.”

Frenetic building work is evident everywhere in Mecca, above all at the Grand Mosque, the vast complex of religious buildings spread over 356,800 square metres at the heart of the city, where Friday’s accident took place.

The country’s monarch, King Salman, has promised to find out what caused the construction crane to topple over during a thunderstorm. One Briton, Qasim Akram from Bolton, was confirmed to have been killed.

The hajj is due to go ahead unaffected, but locals have been left with a bitter taste in their mouths. “There have been quite a few minor incidents, workers getting killed, but it never reaches the press,” said the activist. “This time they can’t hide it.”

The 100m riyal (£17.2m) Mecca development project is overseen by one of the country’s leading developers, the Saudi Bin Laden Group, and has backing from the government. Supporters say that when the project is completed there will be new housing, a ring road, parking lots and a new metro system.

Dr Irfan al-Alawi, the executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, said: “It is a tragedy what has happened, but it didn’t come as a surprise. There have been many accidents. Last the last few floors of a building being constructed right next to the clock tower caught fire and they had to call the fire engine from Taif, which is about 45 mins away, to help extinguish it.

Source: The Guardian(UK.)