Imam Hussain Holy Shrine announces completion date of al-Aqeelah Zainab Courtyard project

With an area estimated at 160 thousand square meters and at a total cost of $650 million, the company implementing the al-Aqeelah Zainab Courtyard project in Karbala continues its work on the largest expansion project, which it hopes to open in 2025.

The Deputy Secretary-General of Imam Hussain Holy Shrine, Alaa Dhiya Al-Din, told Shia Waves agency, that “the Holy Shrine has recorded seven reconstruction phases throughout history, and this marks the eighth and includes the courtyards of al-Aqeelah Zainab and Imam al-Hassan, peace be upon them.”  

Al-Din added, “Under the land of the holy city of Karbala is another city that corresponds to what exists above the ground and includes service facilities and a network of tunnels to provide services to pilgrims.”

For his part, Head of the Engineering Projects Department at the Holy Shrine, Hussein Dhiya Mahdi, said, “The total area allocated for the expansion of the Sanctuary is half a million square meters, including 160,000 square meters for the courtyard of al-Aqeelah Zainab, peace be upon her, which accommodates more than a million pilgrims.”

Mahdi added that “work in the first phase of the expansion of the courtyard began in 2016 and work has reached advanced stages, as the concrete structure of the project has been completed.”

Mahdi pointed out that the massive project is hoped to be complete by 2025.