Saudi Arabia's King Salman approved measures to help Umrah and Hajj pilgrimage operators after a year of curtailed travel and tight controls on the numbers of the faithful allowed into the Makkah and Madinah holy sites amid concerns over Covid-19.
The goal is to help compensate companies and persons that support the pilgrimages and lost income due to the global pandemic. The government has launched more than 150 initiatives, allocating over SR180 billion to the cause since the pandemic, according to SPA.
Accommodation centres will be exempt from the annual fees for licences in the cities of Makkah and Madinah, where the pilgrimages take place.
Eligible companies in the sector will also be exempted from expatriate worker fees for six months. They can renew licences for accommodation centres free of charge in the two cities for a year, which can be extended.
For expatriates working in activities related to Hajj and Umrah, the collection of residency renewal fees will be postponed for six months, provided that the amounts are paid in instalments over a year, the state news agency SPA said.
King Salman further approved the exemption of fees companies pay for expatriates working in the Hajj and Umrah sector and for their dependents for a period of six months.
The pandemic has taken a toll on expatriates working in the Hajj and Umrah sector, who could no longer afford to keep their families in the Kingdom or pay for necessities due to lack of income and business opportunities.
Asad Khan, a salesman at a local travel agency in Jeddah told The National he had to send his family home because they couldn't afford living in the kingdom due to the high dependent fees and lack of work during the pandemic.
“We suffered a lot personally and business wise. I had to send my wife and kids back to India, as I couldn’t afford to keep them in Saudi Arabia any more with the growing dependent fee and not knowing if I will even get my next salary because business was down the whole of last year," he said.
"We had an investor who lost all his money. So it was a bad situation for all of us. I am really relieved and grateful to the King for helping us and understanding our concerns. Our industry was hit bad,” he added.
Umaimah Mahmoud, an Egyptian student living in Jeddah said her family working in the sector could not afford to send her to university.
"My dad couldn't afford to pay for my education, I had to take a gap year. He saved for my education but he told me it was uncertain if he could keep up with payments. It has been a hard year, but with these much-needed initiatives at least he doesn't have to pay our dependent fees, since we are five siblings and it is bound to take the pressure off," she told The National.
Licenses for bus companies providing travel for Hajj and Umrah services have been extended without charge for a year and their customs duties have been postponed for three months, which can be paid off in instalments over a period of four months.
"It was hard to make ends meet," Haider Ali, a Pakistani bus ticket agent living in Dahaban, told The National.
“We used to have a lot of traffic to Makkah and Madinah but since March last year our buses were stranded in parking lots. We had no passengers, our salaries were delayed, because the owners were not making any money. But these initiatives give me hope that our situation will become better. This is the best news I have heard since the pandemic hit us,” he added.
Umrah was suspended last March because of the pandemic but returned with strict Covid-19 protocols and limited numbers.
No cases been reported among the five million worshippers who performed Umrah since October last year. Pilgrims register though the government app and receive time slots to ensure there is no overcrowding at sites.
Last year, Hajj went ahead despite the pandemic. But rather than the more than two million who usually attend from around the world, only 1,000 residents and citizens already in the kingdom were allowed.
All attendees needed to quarantine in advance, and the entire pilgrimage was socially distanced. No Covid-19 cases were recorded.
The Saudi authorities have not yet said how this year's event will take place although the health minister said earlier this month that all those working the pilgrimage must be vaccinated.
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Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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The years Ramadan fell in May
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Hili 2: Unesco World Heritage site
The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.
Correspondents
By Tim Murphy
(Grove Press)
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Review: Tomb Raider
Dir: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Daniel Wu, Walter Goggins
two stars
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Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
T20 World Cup Qualifier
October 18 – November 2
Opening fixtures
Friday, October 18
ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya
Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan
Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed
Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed
