Saudi Arabia doing best to keep costs low during Haj

2009/11/22

KUALA LUMPUR, Sun: The Saudi Arabian government is doing its best to control accommodation and transportation costs during the Haj season and is constantly improving facilities for pilgrims. Its ambassador to Malaysia Mohamed Reda Abu Al-Hamayel said transportation costs had remained the same for the past 25 years.

"The government of Saudi Arabia tries to control costs as much as it can, we try to provide accommodation like hotels and service apartments at low prices," he said in an interview.

Asked on the rising cost of performing the Haj, Mohamed Reda said it was due to travel operators trying to add special privileges like five star hotels to pilgrims' itineraries instead of service apartments.

Mohamed Reda said as the custodian of Islam's two holy mosques, the Saudi Arabian government was deploying facilities using cutting edge technology to ensure visitors could perform their pilgrimage smoothly.

An estimated three million pilgrims, including 26,000 Malaysians, are currently in the Holy Land performing this year's Haj.

"The Saudi authorities through the information and research centres of the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Information use a satellite system to identify crowded places and monitor the movements of pilgrims, particularly in Mina and other holy places.

"They are also used to communicate and exchange information between Haj authorities, locate missing pilgrims and to spot any traffic accidents or fire incidents for immediate and swift action," he said.

The satellite system is linked to other small centres located all over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
Mohamed Reda said pilgrims were now given a tracking wristband upon arrival, which contained information on the pilgrim such as name, nationality, passport number and address during his stay in the kingdom.

"If a person is lost and wants to rejoin his group, he can go to any of the small centres and show his wristband to the authorities to locate his friends," he said.

The wristband also helps the authorities to guide lost pilgrims back to their hostels or other places.
Mohamed Reda said those performing the haj this year would enjoy the expanded facilities at the Grand Mosque which is undergoing renovations that would be fully completed by 2013.

Under the expansion plan, a monorail system would be ready next year to cater for 500,000 pilgrims to travel between holy sites within six to eight hours.

"It is going to be a good and very marvellous transportation to the area and that area is not easy to develop. But we''ve kept the old heritage of Mecca alongside the modern facilities," he said.

On the Influenza A(H1N1) situation in Saudi Arabia, Mohamed Reda said it was under control and the government was ready to face a second wave of the virus outbreak.

"I would like to tell that the government of Saudi Arabia has taken all the precautions to contain the outbreak of the virus but we need the cooperation from individuals as well," he said.

The ambassador said the number of pilgrims performing the Haj was increasing annually and there had also been an increase in pilgrims returning within five years.

He said to avoid overcrowding, the Saudi government had advised those who had already performed Haj to wait for five years first before they return Mecca or permits would not be issued to them.

"Saudi Arabia saw an increase of such pilgrims to more than 500,000 last year," he added. -- BERNAMA