Saudi contractors still owed 70% of dues: report

Nearly 70 percent of dues owed to contractors for public projects in Saudi Arabia remain unpaid, despite the government’s announcement late last year that it would start settling delayed payments, Okaz reported, citing Saudi Contractors' Authority chairman Osama Al-Afaleq.

The delay was attributed to a lack of budget for some projects, and concerned government departments not issuing payment orders.

"The Finance Ministry will release the payments only after it received orders from those ministries for their respective projects," Al-Afaleq said.

“But the problem is that some ministries refuse to issue such orders on the grounds that they do not have budgets for some projects, causing delays in payments,” he added.

The Council of Saudi Chambers was recently requested to determine the value of the delayed payments, which indicated that there was no mechanism used to determine the outstanding dues, he said.

Saudi Arabia’s construction sector has been severely affected by the tumble in oil prices since mid-2014, which led the government to cancel or delay major projects and halt payments owed to contractors.

Hit by high debts, the Kingdom’s major contractors laid off thousands of workers and delayed wages, leading to protests in the country last year.