The Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) has signed a deal with the Ministry of Interior and the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution to pursue foreign engineers who violated local laws and left the Kingdom.

SCE Secretary-General Ghazi Al-Abbasi pointed out that the council is communicating with companies that employed foreign engineers who left the Kingdom, and inquired about projects they carried out. He said the council does not have the authority to investigate or question, it only has a mediatory role.

He added that if involvement in the implementation of government projects without having official documents that authorize an engineer to carry out such a project is proved, he will be tried for forgery.

He said projects have been delayed for many reasons, including red tape. He wondered how the financial, supervisory and engineering aspects of the project and reviewing financial payments, cause delay of the project and obstruct, in addition to establishing cheap projects that lack plans because they moved from one contractor to another.

The Saudi Council of Engineers has been held responsible for the delay of many projects. “The administrative system for the project bears part of the responsibility in addition to the Saudi auction system because they deal with engineering work,” he said. He confirmed that government contracts signed in Saudi Arabia are the cheapest in comparison with other countries, saying the necessary basis to avoid delay in projects is represented in the scheduling of plans and designs and in finding competent engineers.

Al-Abbasi refused to define the rate of unemployed Saudi women engineers, saying a number of these women manage female sections in engineering offices that specialize in planning and design.

He said Saudi women engineers don’t have the ability for daily supervision for certain projects, and their work is limited to work inside offices for interior design. “To maintain privacy of Saudi women engineers, the council found a special branch for women that are made up of seven engineers to supervise the work, and relations between foreign and Saudi engineers,” he added.