Haj made affordable

June 13, 2014

Jeddah, Jun 13: Domestic Haj companies have forged an alliance to provide 10,000 local pilgrims the opportunity to perform Haj this year for SR2,750.

HajThe price for a low-cost Haj will range between SR2,750 and SR5,000 while those wanting extra services have to pay SR9,800 and more. Pilgrims opting for low-cost services will be given tents in different parts of Mina, said Saad Al-Qurashi, chairman of the Haj and Umrah Committee at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Pilgrims who want to stay close to the Jamarat have to pay SR5,000 for A1 category, SR4,800 for A2, SR4,400 for B and SR4,150 for C. Pilgrims who applied for D1 category, located between King Abdul Aziz Bridge and the Muzdalifah border, have to pay SR3,600 while those staying in tents closer to Muzdalifah will pay SR2,750.

“As many as 41,000 domestic pilgrims will benefit from low-cost Haj services this year,” said Al-Qurashi.

Speaking with Arab News, he said 70 percent of these pilgrims would be selected by the Haj Ministry, while the rest would go through Haj service providers. Some 106 companies have signed a code of ethics to provide Haj services at low prices.

He said the package price covers all services including food, accommodation, transport and Mashair Railway charges. “There are 204 licensed companies to serve domestic pilgrims,” he said, adding that many of them have received their tents in Mina and other holy places from the ministry.

“The early allocation of tents will play a big role in reducing charges,” Al-Qurashi said. He estimated the total number of domestic pilgrims this year at 150,000 after a 50 percent cut in their number due to ongoing Haram expansion projects.

“This is the first time Mina tents are distributed among service providers before Ramadan,” he said and commended Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar for the initiative. He urged other government departments to follow the ministry’s example by quickly issuing visas for seasonal workers and easing procedures to rent buses from abroad.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Kuwait will allow citizens and residents to travel to and from the country, starting August 1, the government communication center tweeted on early Thursday, citing a cabinet decision.

The decision excludes residents coming from Bangladesh, Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Iran, Nepal.

Last month, Kuwait announced it would partially resume commercial flights from August, but does not expect to reach full capacity until a year later, as its aviation sector gradually recovers from a suspension sparked by the Covid-19 crisis.

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KT
April 14,2020

Dubai, Apr 14: Saudi Arabia reported 435 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 5369, the Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday.

According to the ministry of health the number of recoveries today are 84 cases, making total of recoveries in the kingdom 889.

The ministry also confirmed 8 deaths bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 73.

Saudi Arabia imposed a 24-hour curfew and lockdown on the cities of Riyadh, Tabuk, Dammam, Dhahran and Hofuf and throughout the governorates of Jeddah, Taif, Qatif and Khobar. This week the curfew was extended until further notice.

Containment efforts
Saudi authorities are racing to contain an outbreak of coronavirus in the Islamic holy city of Mecca.

The total number of coronavirus cases reported in Mecca, home to 2 million people, reached 1,050 on Monday compared to 1,422 in the capital of Riyadh, a city more than three times the size. Mecca’s large number of undocumented immigrants and cramped housing for migrant workers have made it more difficult to slow the infection rate.

Saudi Arabia has reported one of the lowest rates of infection in the region, with around 5,000 cases in a population of over 30 million.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

Dubai, Jul 28: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) (ADCB.AD) is letting go hundreds of employees, sources said, the latest in a round of lay-offs by regional banks as pressure mounts to cut costs amid lower oil prices and the coronavirus crisis.

The UAE’s third-biggest lender is laying off 400 employees, two sources familiar with the matter said, after it had committed to not cutting staff because of the crisis.

In a statement, a spokesman said ADCB had pursued efficiency over the last decade by managing out its lowest underachievers after regular reviews, while ensuring talent was deployed in high-growth areas, such as digital banking.

“A certain number of redundancies are therefore expected every year in the normal course of business,” the bank spokesman added.

The sources said the cuts would involve ADCB’s consumer business and several in top management were among those being let go. One source said the bank was looking to close 20 branches.

In March, ADCB had declared, “No employee will be made redundant during 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

UAE banks have been hit by government measures to rein in the spread of the virus, forcing many businesses to shut temporarily.

Last week, Dubai’s largest bank, Emirates NBD, reported a slump of 58% in profits. In June, sources told Reuters the bank started a new round of hundreds of lay-offs.

In May, ADCB reported a fall of 84% in first-quarter net profit as it took impairments of $292 million on debt exposure to troubled hospital operator NMC Health and payments group Finablr.

It was a major lender, with an exposure of about $981 million, to NMC Health, which went into administration this year after months of turmoil following questions over financial reporting.

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