DAMMAM, 1 November — Reports that expatriate limousine drivers will be replaced by Saudis within six months have evoked a sense of relief among the Saudis who believe that this move will create hundreds of job opportunities for them. But at the same time they maintain that the entire limousine operation in the country will have to be put under close scrutiny and many malpractices and illegal activities will have to be dealt with sternly.

Officials at the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as transport experts agree that limousine operation in the Kingdom was most disorganized and full of huge irregularities despite Ministry of Communication’s repeated warnings and measures to eradicate such practices. These experts say that the new instructions will surely press limousine operators to put their house in order and follow the guidelines issued by the ministry.

Saeed Al-Ghamdi, a former industrial research expert at the chamber of commerce here, said that the reports of irregular functioning of limousine companies have been enormous and not much has changed in the past two-three years, despite the ministry’s warning and punitive measures. The Ministry of Communication in consultation with the Ministry of Labor had in the past issued guidelines for the functioning of limousine companies. Under these guidelines, it was made obligatory for the limousine companies to pay a minimum salary to taxi drivers. This was done on complaints that most of the limousine companies were not paying any salary to the drivers and instead were just offering them commission.

It is a regular practice among most of the limousine companies to hire drivers from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Egypt. These drivers are required to pay a minimum of SR150 per day to the company and anything earned above SR150 belonged to them.

These drivers were not given any other benefit like housing, medical insurance and vacation salary. In addition they were required to pay for their Iqama (resident permit) fee, exit and re-entry visa fee and in many cases fine for violation of traffic rules.

Several complaints were made to the Ministry of Labor as well as Ministry of Communications. The authorities eventually came out with orders that each limousine company was required to pay a salary to the drivers. Some of the limousine companies followed the order and started paying salaries which ranged between SR500 to SR1,000 per month.

However, many limousine companies evolved a new mechanism. They made the drivers to sign papers that they received salary but in reality never paid any money to them.

Officials at the Ministry of Labor as well as the chamber of commerce say that it was difficult to take action against such unscrupulous companies since they provided documents that they were paying salary to the drivers. Expatriate drivers also did not have the courage to challenge those documents.

However, the new policy to Saudize the limousine drivers’ job has given hope to these officials that now the situation will change and exploitation of drivers will end. “That is for sure that no Saudi driver will sign any document without receiving a salary,” said Al-Ghamdi. “Not only this, these drivers will also demand other perks they are entitled to,” he added.

No doubt this action will put some additional financial burden on limousine companies but their functioning will become more professional and there will be an end to the exploitation of drivers.

But the present expatriate drivers say that they will not be benefited by this move. “We have been exploited for so many years and we will not receive anything. We will simply lose our jobs,” said Meezanur Rehman, a Bangladeshi driver.

Ismail Khan, a Pakistani driver in Al-Khobar, said: “The authorities should instruct the limousine companies to give us end of service benefit. These companies did not pay us salary but on paper at least they have a figure as our monthly salary and on the basis of those figures they could calculate our ESB.”

Mutafizur Rehman, another Bangladeshi driver with a limousine company here said that the authorities should not allow these companies to get rid off us so easily. “We are losing our job, we should at least be compensated with what is due to us, that is our back salaries and ESB.”

Most expatriate drivers complain of lingering illness as a result of driving for up to 16 hours a day in order to make ends meet. They doubt if Saudi drivers will be willing to put in so many hours for so little.