Saudi Gazette RIYADH — Investors in the land transport sector cannot pay the new annual fees of SR2,400 levied on foreign workers to renew Iqamas and work permits, the National Committee for Land Transport at the Saudi Council of Chambers announced. “The activities of the sector will be paralyzed as many companies will be forced out of the market,” it threatened. Committee member, Salim Al-Salim told a business daily on Monday that a number of large transport companies informed the committee during a recent meeting in Riyadh that they would not be able to pay the new fees even if the fines on them were doubled, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper reported. He said an owner of a company claimed that it would be a big burden on him as his company has 2,000 vehicles and will have to pay an additional SR5 million to renew the Iqamas of his foreign workers. “These are downright taxes which I am not ready to pay even if I have to quit the sector and look for investments elsewhere,” the owner said. Al-Salim said the unavoidable stoppage of work by the transport companies during the coming few weeks should not be considered as a strike but pressure to waive the new labor fees. He warned that about 30 percent of the transport companies might close down. “This will then reflect on the prices of the other operating companies and subsequently on customers. We hope that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah will abrogate this decision,” he said. The committee warned that the new fees would have adverse implications on the infrastructural and development projects in the Kingdom. The transport sector is an important pillar for all development projects, it said. The committee also warned that if the investors in the transport sector continued to work, despite the new fees, they might incur an annual loss of not less than SR3 billion. According to the committee, the transport sector in the Kingdom consists of more than two million light, medium and heavy vehicles. These vehicles may be obliged to go out of the Saudi transport market, which is the largest in the region, the committee said. It also said the investors were more than happy to employ Saudis if they were willing to work as drivers. Many of the Saudi youth would not like to work in this sector because of its difficult and demanding nature, the committee said.
