“Some of the vital projects to help develop and modernize Saudi Post’s infrastructure were in jeopardy due to the financial crunch. The banks are also not cooperating with Saudi Post with regard to supplying the details of some of its Wasel customers,” said a report from the service presented to the Shoura Council, reported Al-Madinah Arabic daily.

The report was presented by top officials of Saudi Post, including its chairman Muhammad Saleh Benten, Deputy Chairman for Planning and Training Saad Al-Turki, Deputy Chairman for Postal Operations Sami Al-Owaidi and Advisor to the Chairman Muhammad Abdul Jabbar. The report cited various difficulties faced by Saudi Post in carrying out its mission effectively.

“These difficulties include inadequate postal facilities in some regions, lack of centers for automatic handling and postal technology in various regions. Some post offices are also not linked to the computer network, so the organization is unable to make available its advanced services to certain customers,” the report said.

The officials also stressed the need for transforming the organization into an autonomous corporation to carry out its responsibilities more effectively.

Meanwhile, some Shoura Council members carried out a scathing attack on the performance of Saudi Post, especially its Wasel project. They described the initiative as an example of how to waste state funds.

One member, Talal Bakri, attacked the alleged low quality of the Wasel mailboxes. “Saudi Post promised that the boxes would be of superior quality and capable of withstanding climatic conditions for at least 10 years. However, some of the boxes were ruined within a single year,” he said.

Other members, including Abdullah Bukhari and Hamad Al-Qadi, found fault with the design of the boxes.

Reacting to the allegations, a Saudi Post official suggested that the criticism leveled by some Shoura members was quite personal.

“They may have some sort of personal grudge against Saudi Post or the Wasel project. It is unfortunate that these members, who are also members of the committees concerned with evaluating the performance of Saudi Post, are leveling such charges without providing feedback to improve the organization and its services,” he said. He added that Wasel was the first of its kind in the world.

Wasel, launched in 2005, was said to be the optimal and fastest way to deliver all post to the homes of citizens and expatriates. It was described as a unique postal address based on geographic information systems (GIS). Saudi Post fixed boxes at customer’s houses and delivered the keys free of charge. A total of five million mailboxes were set up across the Kingdom as part of the project. Saudi Post implemented the project, in cooperation with the private sector, at a cost of SR800 million.

The new postal address and personal mailbox delivery system was a major project urgently required to bring Saudi Post’s delivery network in line with other modern mail organizations around the world.

This program was driven by consumer demand for improved services beyond the system of PO boxes, which has until recently been the standard delivery mechanism across the country. The new postal system uses satellite technology to create a postal code for each individual building, all collated into a national database.