ALKHOBAR, 23 May 2003 — Motorists traveling between Riyadh and Dammam are facing long delays at checkpoints entering both Riyadh and the Eastern Province. Even inside the cities of Dammam and Alkhobar checkpoints are causing long waits.
“Wednesday night was terrible,” said one Asian expatriate. “When we left Dammam at 7 p.m. we saw a very long line of trucks queuing to enter the city from the highway. We never imagined what was waiting for us coming into Riyadh at 10:30. As we approached the area of the checkpoint outside Riyadh, I saw a long line of trucks. I reset my odometer at that time and found that when we reached the checkpoint we had traveled 5 kilometers.”
Getting to the Riyadh checkpoint is not easy. Four-wheel drive vehicles common in Saudi Arabia circle around the main traffic lanes, going out onto the road shoulder and into the sand. Then they come back up at the front of the lanes near the checkpoint, where they push into the lines of vehicles awaiting police clearance. One owner of a 4-wheel drive said that he took such action because his family had already been waiting 15 minutes at the back of the line and had hardly moved 1 kilometer in that time. Even cutting through the lines it still took him thirty minutes to clear the checkpoint.
“What really troubles me is that although the police are checking documents and opening car trunks, they aren’t looking inside the suitcases and bags in the trunks,” said a Pakistani executive of a local IT company.
In the Eastern Province, motorists are advised to avoid the Green and Golden Belt compound areas and the area near the US Consulate due to checkpoint delays. Near major compounds, some streets have been reduced in width as concrete barriers have been placed outside compound walls to keep traffic at a distance.
Taxi drivers from some companies have been instructed by their management to ask potential customers for identification before allowing them into the vehicle to avoid problems at checkpoints.
