Written by Abdel Salam Hayel

Photo by Zaki Al-Yousifi

The owners and drivers of vehicles (bottles for transporting water) organized a protest this morning at the Al-Saila wells site behind the General Corporation for Water and Sanitation in the Sira District, in protest against what they described as recent measures by the Transport Office and the local authority aimed at imposing additional fees on them and obliging them to obtain practice licenses. Profession and paying an amount of (27) thousand riyals to each owner (bouza, or white)

Mohamed Azzam, representative of the bus owners and drivers, explained that these measures would increase the citizens’ suffering in bearing the costs of the water tank transportation cost, which currently amounts to between 25 and 30 thousand, especially in high-altitude areas where drinking water does not reach.

He added, saying: Instead of the concerned authorities providing water to citizens, they imposed an increase in fees on car owners, which will directly reflect on “the back of the poor citizen”

The protesters called on the local authorities and the transportation office to reconsider this problem out of consideration for the conditions of citizens, especially since many buses are working to deliver water as a “charity allowance” to many residential areas and neighbourhoods.