Gulf | Saudi Arabia
360 to lose jobs over Saudi floods
Disciplinary action taken against Jeddah Mayoralty officials found guilty of catastrophe
- By Abdul Rahman Shaheen, Correspondent
- Published: 16:00 March 15, 2010
- Image Credit: AP
- The disciplinary action follows completion of an investigation into the flood disaster that struck eastern and southern districts of Jeddah on November 25 and claimed more than 120 lives.
Riyadh: As many as 360 Saudi and foreign officials holding key posts at the Jeddah Mayoralty will be terminated within a few weeks. The mayoralty has received orders from the Control and Investigation Bureau in this regard, according to official sources.
This disciplinary action follows completion of an investigation into the flood disaster that struck eastern and southern districts of Jeddah on November 25 and claimed more than 120 lives. Makkah Governor Prince Khaled Al Faisal, who headed a high-level committee to investigate the causes behind the disaster, presented the report to King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz on March 5.
As a follow up of the investigation, the authorities have started taking drastic measures to restructure the mayoralty and take disciplinary action against those found guilty of turning the flash floods into a catastrophe.
Whopping salaries
The flood disaster, which inflicted damage to the image of Saudi Arabia, destroyed 10,785 homes and 10,850 vehicles. Thirty people are still unaccounted for.
It was revealed in the investigations that several retired officials are on the pay roll of the mayoralty, including several foreigners, who receive whopping monthly salaries, reaching around and over $30,000(Dh110,100).
The mayoralty's non-compliance with orders from higher government authorities allowed officials of contracted private companies to occupy top positions at the Mayoralty, according to the sources. Hence, the new orders were meant to put an end to any type of favouritism in future bids and awarding of contracts by such officials to their designated companies.
According to the new orders received by the Mayoralty from the Control and Investigation Bureau, the services of some 360 retired officials will end in three phases. The first phase of termination shall be by Wednesday and the second phase after two weeks.
Termination of all these officials shall be completed in the third and last phase, i.e. mid April. The Bureau has also instructed the Mayoralty to cancel all its parties, including farewell ones for those employees retiring from service, and this was considered as a step to put an end extravagance.
The Mayoralty has decided to transfer the service of more than 15 advisers and senior officials to the Jeddah Development and Urban Regeneration Company, as part of its restructuring.
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