MAKKAH — Emir of Makkah Prince Khaled Al-Faisal met in his office at the governorate on Sunday evening commanders of the Haj security forces and urged them to prepare early for the pilgrimage. He said he appreciated the efforts of security forces during the Haj and Umrah seasons. “Serving the guests of God is a great honor. The security forces and all the other concerned sectors should work with a team spirit to provide excellent services to the pilgrims.” Meanwhile, the Ministry of Haj has said it would expand its low-cost Haj program to include more people this year. It said about 50,000 low-income pilgrims would benefit from the program this year compared to 41,000 last year. “The tents in Mina and Arafat will be distributed among the Haj service providers in various categories at fixed prices ranging from SR3,000 to SR5,000,” it said. The ministry will distribute the tent locations in Mina among the Haj service-providing companies according to their ratings during the previous year's Haj. It said it will receive requests for tent locations on Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will announce the results the same day at 4 p.m. The ministry also said it will receive requests for tent locations from the low-cost Haj campaigns on Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon and will announce the results at 1 p.m. the same day. It said the results of the allocation of tent locations will be announced to the Tawafa establishments by mobile text messages and also on the ministry's website. The ministry said the low-cost companies would have 71 camps in Mina.
