‘No Saudi driver has applied for the job'JEDDAH – About 240 Haj companies and the Car Syndicate are hiring 4,000 drivers and buses from abroad. The companies claim the decision is due to the lack of Saudi bus drivers during the Haj season. Sa'ad Jameel Al-Qurashi, Chairman of the National Committee for Haj and Umrah, insists the companies will still provide jobs for Saudi nationals. He says they will provide “6,000 job opportunities, 30 percent of which are for women, for unemployed Saudis and university students. Jobs for women will range from being nurses to working as supervisors and administrative assistants, and their salaries will be between SR3,000-SR5,000,” according to a report in Asharq Al-Awsat. “Renting buses from nearby countries is a temporary solution to provide pilgrims with transportation to Makkah, Madina, and the Holy Sites,” said Saeed Al-Bassami, Vice Chairman of the Public Transportation Committee. “Transportation companies were very interested in hiring Saudi drivers but no Saudi driver has applied for a job during Haj over the past years. But these companies might end up being fined if they do not achieve the Saudization quota or be barred from recruiting foreign drivers.” “There are already more than 300,000 buses in Saudi Arabia and there are over 150,000 employment opportunities in the sector,” he added. Investment in the Saudi transportation sector is very promising, but it needs double its current number of companies. The councils of Saudi chambers have recently proposed that a committee should investigate transportation problems after losses sustained by the public transportation sector.
