Expatriate taxi drivers worry about Saudi decision

Saudi Arabia's decision yesterday to nationalise taxi drivers within the next six months will affect thousands of expatriates, mainly from the subcontinent, who have been working in the Kingdom for years as cab drivers.

Gulf News spoke to a number of taxi drivers, representatives of companies operating taxis, and officials and sought their views on the expected impact of the new regulation on expatriates in the Kingdom. Some went on to say that the implementation of the new law will not be an easy matter.

"Years ago, it was mainly Pakistanis who were driving taxis in the nooks and corners of the Kingdom. With the passage of time, this complexion changed to some extent.

Although there still are a large number of drivers from Pakistan, yet Indians, Bangla-deshis and even some Sudanese could now be seen driving taxis in the Kingdom," said Mohammed Taha, a taxi driver in Al Khobar.

Another Pakistani taxi driver said: "We have to see the impact of the new regulation on expatriate taxi drivers in the Kingdom before we judge it. However, I believe that it will have a huge impact on all expatriate taxi drivers and their families, " said the driver.

A representative of a big limousine service company operating in Al Khobar and in other parts of the Kingdom, speaking to Gulf News on condition of anonymity, said that it was difficult to project the future as yet.

"We have to see how the new regulation is implemented. We have just read the news item," adding that driving a cab is not an easy job.

"Not every one can afford to work the long working hours at meagre salaries. We cannot afford to increase the salaries of the drivers much. This will make our service uneconomical. There are also no fixed timings for the jobs.

"Often the job has to be accomplished at odd hours, to the very satisfaction of the customer and not every one could come up to the requirements of the job," the representative added.

Many say the limousine companies were already under pressure for sometime now to employ as many Saudis as they can. However, they were finding it difficult to get the right nationals for the job.

Even if someone accepted the job, at the current salary levels, many Saudis quit the job within days of joining, at times even without informing the company.

"We cannot afford this type of attitude. We have to take care of the customers and need to have dedicated people who would accomplish the assignments without any problems," said the representative.

Many however, feel it would not be very easy for the government to implement the decision.

Finding the right Saudis to fill the vacuum could be a major impediment to implementing the decision. Many Saudi employers prefer to hire expatriates for these jobs.

"Even now it is difficult to get a Saudi under the existing regulations. How would we meet the new requirements is a mind-boggling question and we do not have an answer to it, as yet," said the manager of another company operating taxis in the Kingdom. "It may not be an easy decision to implement, one thus cannot argue," he said.

Industry sources say many passengers prefer an expatriate limousine driver. At times the police has to intervene to make sure that the limousines driven by the nationals are hired.

There are more than 300 limousine companies operating in the Kingdom. In Dhahran, Riyadh and Jeddah limousine drivers are mostly expatriates. In smaller towns the number of Saudi taxi drivers is believed to be in the majority already.

High unemployment rate among the Saudis is believed to be the real motive behind the decision. Some independent analysts cite unemployment rates in excess of 15 per cent.

The Saudi labour minister was recently quoted as having mentioned a figure of 3.2 million unemployed Saudis at present. These are huge numbers, especially in a country where almost 7 million expatriates are earning their livelihood.

A number of those affected taxi drivers could be Pakistanis.

A Pakistani diplomat in Riyadh told Gulf News: "We are not yet sure of how this decision will affect taxi drivers. We do not have the data about the exact number of Pakistanis working in the sector. It would definitely have an impact on a large number of Pakistanis," he said.