Omar Abdullah Khayyat







SAUDIS are no longer content with having one car. Each family has at least three cars: one for the wife, the second for the man of the house and the third for the groceries. Even the driver has his own and perhaps the cook as well.



Add to this figure the number of cars driven by expatriate workers, of which there are now more than 10 million in the Kingdom. However, we could reduce that number by assuming that half of them are housemaids who are unable to drive, which still leaves some five million expatriates in the Kingdom who may have cars.



Most of the cars used by expatriates are not roadworthy. They need to be repaired and do not function properly. It’s a miracle that they are able to operate on our roads. It is essential for the traffic police to limit the number of expatriates using cars, as the vehicles they drive are often not fit for the purpose and a cause of stress when driving.



An article published in Okaz daily recently said that the price of spare car parts in the Kingdom had increased by 500 percent. Some Japanese spare parts are more expensive than European and US parts. For instance, the brakes a US car company sells in the US for SR 400 cost SR 1,000 in the Kingdom. This is just one example and there are many more.



The question that everyone is now asking is what the Ministry of Commerce is going to do about this. God Almighty speaks out against people who deceive other people.