The Saudi Arabian Public Transport Company has announced that the government will pay it a subsidy of SR436 million in monthly installments of SR43 million.
Imagine! Almost half a billion riyals of public money paid to a public transport company. SAPTCO shares trade strongly on the local stock market and it claims to post annual profits.
Half a billion riyals is paid by the Ministry of Finance as a grant to a company nobody knows is a government firm — as indicated by the grant — or a joint stock company as the trading of its shares indicate.
Half a billion riyals of public money to a company and we are uncertain if it has been put up for privatization or if it remains a burden on the state.
Half a billion riyals is paid to a company with a complete monopoly of the public transport market and yet it receives government subsidies from public money though the overwhelming majority of its customers are non-Saudis.
Half a billion riyals is paid to a company at a time when some of our universities dream of getting half that amount so they could move from rented buildings to purpose-built accommodation.
Over the next 10 months, checks will be signed by our honorable brothers in the Ministry of Finance in favor of a company that continues to sustain losses in a market which it monopolizes.
When the 11th month arrives, our brothers at the Ministry of Finance will prepare for a battle with the budget directors of various government departments about a handful of riyals for projects intended to serve the public.
That is not the end of the story. The Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) pays its employees a bonus equal to one and a half month’s salary at the end of each financial year for their “outstanding performance.” I don’t envy them, but STC should know it is paying with public money, the property of every citizen of this country since the state owns 70 percent of STC.
The company should also know that the thousands of its shareholders have every right to the profits it posts. The least STC can do before showing such generosity is to ask its general assembly to approve the bonus and ensure that a proper evaluation of its employees’ performance is carried out.
