Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said the US$36 cut in the hajj pilgrimage cost (BPIH) for 2010 was already enough.

"The government cannot go lower than that," the minister said on the sidelines of his meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR) which was held to discuss the hajj pilgrimage cost here on Friday.

He said that if the cut was set lower than that it would cause the government to pay many components which should be paid by the pilgrims.

The reduction of US$36 dollar was significant because in reality the cost of a number of hajj components had increased, particularly the cost for their boarding facilities, Suryadharma Ali said.

He said that the government was doing its best to improve the quality of the Indonesian hajj boarding facilities, including their distance from the Haram Mosque.

The minister said that in 2009, only about 28 percent of the Indonesian hajj pilgrims stayed in the boarding houses within Ring I, but this year the government did its best to increase the percentage to 68 percent. Ring I has its farthest border 4 km from the Haram Mosque.

Suryadharma said that the improvement of the boarding quality also had the consequence of increasing cost.

The government has set the boarding cost at US$3,000 but actually the real cost for it is US$3,100, the minister added.
(Uu.A014/HAJM/P003)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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