50% Saudization in over 11,000 telecom shops

GOOD PROGRESS: Maximum compliance of the Saudization decision was found in the Eastern Province. (SPA)

JEDDAH: Inspections jointly conducted by officials of the ministries of Labor and Social Development, Trade and Investment, and Municipal and Rural Affairs and the police revealed that 11,584 facilities have fulfilled the requirement of hiring 50 percent of employees from among Saudis in the telecommunications sector in its first phase, which started in Ramadan.

Fahad bin Abdullah Al-Awaidi, undersecretary for inspections and improvement of the work environment at the ministry, said that according to the geographical distribution of facilities, the Eastern Province topped the Kingdom’s regions in the number of facilities committed to the Saudization decision with 3,166 facilities, followed by Riyadh with 1,781.
Saying that the inspection tours will continue until the sector is fully nationalized by Dul Qadaah 1, he pointed out that the sectoral application includes all categories and sizes of facilities.
Al-Awaidi stressed the fact that the ministry will not hesitate to arrest anyone who violates this decision that is intended to create job opportunities for the country's young men and women. The inspection tours found 2,198 violations across the Kingdom.
The highest number of irregularities were found in the Eastern Province with 632 violations, while the lowest number was found in Najran with 10 violations.
The inspection teams shut down 1,179 shops while 549 shops were given a warning.
The official called on the ministry’s clients to report irregularities through the website “together to monitor” (rasd.ma3an.gov.sa) or the unified customer service 19911, where reports will be immediately dealt with in order to improve and control the labor market environment.
In all, 13,814 inspection tours have been carried out. The Eastern Province had the largest number of mobile phone stores, as the number of facilities that has been visited reached 3,553, followed by Riyadh with 2,065, Qassim with 1,556 facilities, 1,450 in Makkah, 1,325 in Asir and 985 in Madinah. Other regions and towns where inspections were carried out were Hail, Tabuk, Al-Baha, Northern Border, Jazan and Al-Jouf.