I recently saw a photograph that had a group of British company representatives posing for a picture in Riyadh after discussing their proposals for renovating the Kingdom’s airports. One glaring question that came to my mind instantly was: Why can’t we find Saudi engineers to do the job? We have engineering colleges and there are long lists of Saudi engineering graduates that I’m sure would like to play a part in any national project. They could have been taken on a tour of Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz Airport that is in dire need of renovation. We should have sought their suggestions. Why didn’t we try?
Seriously, when I see some of the problems at our airports I don’t see a need to hire foreign consultants and contractors. Sometimes I get a feeling that in order to be taken seriously a Saudi should just dye his hair, wear contact lenses, put on a Windsor tie, and perfect a foreign accent in order to be more persuasive in presenting ideas.
When will these contracts no longer be passed into the hands of Westerners?
By the way, I have been hearing talks about renovating the airport in Jeddah for almost 20 years. I am convinced that the amount of paperwork about projects and proposals would be heavier than any of the Saudi Arabian Airlines jumbo jets.
So, aside from the issue of who should be refurbishing our country’s airports: Are we actually going to have refurbished airports? Or are we simply going to be reviewing proposals from abroad indefinitely?
