About 50 percent of car rental offices were closed on Sunday, apparently, to avoid penal fines on the very first day of the implementation of the Saudization of the car rental sector, while the offices with full Saudization worked normally.

Inspectors of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development stepped up their operations to ensure the Saudization in car rental sector, while several inspectors issued warnings to those who did not complete their Saudization procedures, without slapping any fines on them.

The current Saudization activities focused on the four areas of the rental sector such as accounting, supervision, sales and receipt and delivery. The ministry said the sector offered 21,000 jobs to Saudis.

Al-Madinah reported that it found 80 percent of the car rental offices at the King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah complying with the order of the ministry on Saudization.

However, the car rental agencies did not permit Saudis to work in the area of receiving, delivering and inspecting vehicles. The agencies attributed this to the lack of experienced Saudis to undertake such difficult works. On the other hand, the ministry stressed the need for appointing experienced Saudis in such jobs at the earliest.

SOURCE : ALBILAD