Haj companies blame higher fees on government

Domestic Haj service providing companies have decided to hike the fees for their services by 30 percent this year.
One of the reasons given by the companies is that they will have to hire additional workers at a higher cost to make hurried arrangements to receive pilgrims because of the delay on the part of the Haj Ministry to allocate spaces for each company at the holy sites.
Another cause is the rise in the price of meat and other foodstuff, a member of the Haj committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), Abdullah Al-Sharif, said.
Al-Sharif, who also runs a domestic Haj service company, added that in the past, companies used to receive the space more than 45 days before the Haj, but this year the allocation had been very late. He said the remaining days were not enough to build tents and get the utilities in place. The situation makes it imperative on the companies to hire workers at very high cost, he said.
Al-Sharif blamed the ministry for not completing the distribution of the mandatory licenses to the companies sufficiently early even though nearly a year had passed since the companies sent their applications to the ministry for licenses. Only licensed companies have the right for space at the holy sites.
Another member of the JCCI Haj committee, Muhammad Basfar, agreed with Al-Sharif’s view on the cause of the hike in service charges pilgrims would have to pay, but said it was unreasonable to increase the fees with more than 20 percent.
“Constructing tents in two weeks will be less costly than constructing them in one week. When the Haj gets closer, workers demand unreasonably high wages,” he said.
On the other hand, undersecretary at the Ministry of Haj Hatim Qadi denied that the ministry was responsible for the delay in the renewal of licenses to domestic Haj service companies. “There is a delay in renewing licenses in the case of companies that are facing court action because of complaints from Umrah pilgrims,” he said.
The ministry completed the allocation of spaces for domestic companies on Saturday, Qadi added, urging the companies to prepare pilgrim tents as early as possible.
He also appealed to the companies not to demand exorbitant fees from pilgrims who are staying at the holy sites only to worship Allah.
He put the number of licensed Haj service providers this year at 224.
According to reports, last year more than a million domestic pilgrims performed Haj.