DAMMAM – All attempts made by the transport sector's investors, particularly large corporations, to contact Adel Fakeih, Minister of Labor, and explain to him the difficulties the sector has been experiencing due to the enforcement of the Nitaqat program have failed, said Fahd Al-Sharee, Vice-President of Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Eastern Province. “The transport sector is in crisis and many investors sustained huge losses because of the Nitaqat program. They want to file a complaint against the minister to King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, because the former refused to meet them or even answer their letters that were sent by the national committees of transport in different chambers,” added Al-Sharee. “Most companies fell under the Red zone because they could not find Saudi drivers to employ. In addition to this, nearly 50 percent of them have stopped their businesses while others are seriously contemplating venturing into other sectors. The transport sector might soon collapse if nothing is done.” In his sharpest criticism yet of the country's latest nationalization program that seeks to create more employment opportunities for citizens by forcing companies to employ a certain percentage of nationals in their workforces, Al-Sharee said the transport sector has lost over SR200 million and said a swift solution was needed. The Nitaqat program categorizes companies in four categories – Excellent, Green, Yellow and Red. Companies in the first two categories have met the required Saudization quotas and are offered perks including the ability to apply for work visas and renews their expatriate workers' residency permits (Iqamas). Companies in the Red and Yellow categories failed to meet the required Saudization quotas and are slapped with various restrictions. “The Nitaqat program has undoubtedly had adverse effects on the sector due to the fact that there is a severe shortage of Saudi drivers. We have taken out ads in newspapers to attract Saudis and contacted the Ministry of Labor to provide the sector with Saudi drivers but to no avail. Saudis are not interested in this dangerous job despite high salaries and incentives,” he said. Al-Sharee said the ministry had repeatedly ignored their requests to speak with Fakieh and said when 50 transport investors went to the ministry's headquarters to meet the minister, they were turned away. “The minister does not want to give transport companies visas to bring expatriate drivers into the Kingdom and does not want to procure drivers for the sector either,” said Al-Sharee. When asked about transport companies that have achieved the required Saudization percentage, Al-Sharee said the majority of Saudi drivers are not interested in the field and most of them cannot deal with driving for long hours from one region to another. He said most of the companies that claim to have reached the required Saudization percentages are using fake statistics. “The don't have real drivers; they have women and prisoners who were hired on paper as heavy vehicle drivers. None of them are actually working, they are just paid monthly salaries.” Al-Sharee said the ministry should focus on Saudizing the jobs of taxi and school bus drivers because creating transportation jobs in cities is easier. “As for the sector of transport related to heavy vehicles, job creation is difficult. Our company tried to attract Saudi drivers with lucrative offers as high as SR6,000 a month. But no one was interested. We hired three Saudis and they left the job three days later. We're for saudization and hiring Saudis. However, this is difficult without training and qualifying them for the job.” “Saudis should be trained and and qualified for the job and be taught to love it. Training institutes should be set up all over the Kingdom and equipped with high-caliber instructors to train Saudi drivers in this field,” he added. Al-Sharee said all doors had been closed and investors in the transport sector were left with no choice but to complain to King Abdullah.
