Madinah TH Ready To Receive First Group Of Malaysian Haj Pilgrims Saturday

By Zarul Effendi Razali MADINAH, July 12 (Bernama) -- The Tabung Haji (TH) Madinah operation team is in the final phase of preparation to welcome the first group of Malaysian pilgrims here, scheduled to arrive this Saturday to perform the Haj. Tabung Haji operations director in Madinah Affandi Abdullah said for this year's haj season, TH is introducing a new prepaid SIM card registration facility with service provider Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC). “The STC prepaid SIM card registration kiosks are exclusively for Malaysian pilgrims, where they no longer need to go to the STC counter located in Madinah or even in Makkah. “This card will be provided for free, they only need to register at the counter provided and pay according to the amount of credit in their SIM card or the amount of their reload credit,” he said in a press conference here Wednesday. To register, Affandi added they only need to bring their Haj identification card without the need to produce their passport, just like any other counter registration. Meanwhile, he said, the TH Madinah operation team was ready to welcome the first batch of pilgrims this Saturday. “The pilgrims will arrive in Madinah in stages with the first chartered pilgrimage flight on July 14 while the last flight will be on August 2. “The first group is expected to arrive at 10 am at the Prince Mohamad Abdulaziz International Airport with a Malaysia Airlines flight,” he said. He added, for this haj season, TH has provided nine haj accommodation hotels in Madinah that could accommodate 9,661 pilgrims at any one time. Those accommodations will be divided into three zones located around Masjid An-Nabawi which also known as the Prophet’s Mosque. “Each of the three zones will provide the full TH services for pilgrims including pilgrims’ welfare, movement schedules and activities, religious advice, cash dispensing counters, baggage handling services, medical, counselling, i-Talk phone call service by Telekom Malaysia,” he said. Affandi said this year’s haj operation will involve 600 TH personnel, with 187 stationed in Madinah. “Most of them have arrived earlier while the rest will be here in stages together with the pilgrims,” he said. TH is Malaysian hajj pilgrims fund board -- BERNAMA