"The House of Representatives (DPR) is still studying the amounts of various components of the hajj pilgrimage cost that can still be cut so that the total cost will d be within the financial reach of most people," Iskan Qolba Lubis of the House`s Commission VIII on religious affairs said here on Friday.
In the current sitting, the House and the government are deliberating the hajj pilgrimage cost.
Iskan said the government was proposing an increase in the airfare from US$1,755 charged in 2010 to US$2,076 for the 2011 hajj pilgrimage with the assumption of a rupiah exchange rate at Rp9000 per US dollar.
Earliar,Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) will try not to raise the 2011 hajj pilgrimage cost (BPIH),
"Admittedly, we are still discussing the 2011 hajj pilgrimage cost with the House Commission VIII. But the government and the DPR will try not to increase it," he said in Jepara, Central Java, last week.
But there were other factors that might increase hajj pilgrimage cost, including aviation turbine (avtur) fuel price, he said.
"If fuel price goes up flight fare will undoubtedly follow and in turn this will have an impact on hajj pilgrimage cost," he said.
He said the airline companies that would transport Indonesian hajj pilgrims this year had proposed a US$342 increase in flight fare to US$2,076 from last year`s US$1,734.
"Of course, we will discuss it (the proposed flight fare hike) so the hajj pilgrimage cost will not increase," he said.
(Uu.A014/HAJM)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
