Okaz/Saudi Gazette DAMMAM — The National Committee for Land Transport at the Council of Saudi Chambers has called upon the Labor and Social Development Ministry to reduce the Saudization rate from 20 to 5 percent in order to rescue the sector from its current precarious situation. Bandar Al-Jabiry, chairman of the committee, said transport companies were facing difficulty to fulfill the ministry's condition of Saudizing 15 to 20 percent of jobs as most Saudis are not interested to take up jobs in the sector. "Most land transport companies are ready to pay attractive salaries if the ministry supplies qualified Saudi drivers. Our efforts to attract Saudis to the sector have failed," he said, adding that Saudis in general reject jobs in the sector because of the difficult nature of work. Al-Jabiry called for drastic steps to save the sector from economic difficulties. "Many transport companies are going through difficult times. They cannot attract Saudis to change their Nitaqat position to green while the ministry insists that they should achieve the required rate of Saudization to reach that position and receive various services," he said. He said the committee would stand by the companies' demand to review the Saudization rate for the land transport sector. He proposed that the rate should not exceed 5 to 6 percent. "We hope that the ministry would review the rate," Al-Jabiry said. "We hope Labor and Social Development Minister Mufrej Al-Haqbani would respond positively to our request." He said the sector has been facing a lot of difficulties because of the high Saudization rate as the companies cannot process the documents of their employees nor visas to recruit new ones due to their failure to join the green club of Nitaqat. Al-Jabiry criticized the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency for approving an increase in insurance premiums for transport vehicles. "This will increase the financial burden on transport companies and will have its negative impact on end customers," he pointed out. SAMA should not ignore the problems facing other beneficiaries because of the premium hike, he said. "We are weighing various options in case the negotiations with SAMA and insurance companies fail," he said while stressing the need to establish an insurance company to provide insurance coverage to all land transport companies. "We are now holding negotiations with a foreign company to enter the local market," he said. The chairman underscored the move to merge the Saudi Railway Authority and Public Transport Authority into the General Transport Authority as a positive step, adding that it would lead to unification of decisions. He called for updating rules and regulations of the transport sector. "The sector will enjoy the merger's benefit in the coming years," he said. Al-Jabiry favored centralization of decisions saying it would eliminate the presence of many decision-making authorities and put an end to conflict of interests.
