76 firms to serve domestic pilgrims

MAKKAH: Seventy-six Haj companies, which have been authorized by the Ministry of Haj and Umrah to offer low-cost programs this year, are likely to earn more than SR200 million in fees for services offered to domestic pilgrims.
The ministry set the price of category A1 camps at SR4,132 per person; category A2 camps at SR4,070 per person; category B at SR4,007 per person; category C camps at SR3,882 per person; category D1 at SR3,757 per person; and category E at SR3,532 per person.
The fees include transportation and breakfast during tashreeq days (11th, 12th and 13th of Dul Hijjah when pilgrims stay in Mina and stone the devil), with transport from the city of the pilgrim to Makkah and the holy sites, and back on completing the Haj rituals. All transport will be offered in buses of models 2007 or later, according to the ministry’s requirements.
The ministry also approved four programs for the domestic Haj sector this year, including the General Haj program, the Residential Towers in Mina program, the Low-Cost Haj program, and the Facilitated Haj program.
The ministry set Thursday as the last day to pay fees for camps and submit bank guarantees of SR400 per pilgrim, in preparation for delivery of camps to companies in the field, after the ministry finished its electronic website during Ramadan.