Emirati taxi driver campaign 'a complete failure'
by Andy SambidgeThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Sunday, 24 May 2009
TAXI CAMPAIGN: Sharjah's attempts to recruit Emirati drivers has been a failure. (Getty Images - for illustrative purposes only)Plans to recruit Emiratis as taxi drivers in Sharjah has been a total failure, with just one national applying for a job in five years, according to a senior transport official.
The Sharjah Public Transport Corporation (SPTC) said all of the nearly 20,000 taxi-driving positions continue to be filled by expats, despite an attempt to change that.
Mohammed al Shamsi, the chairman of the board of directors of the SPTC, admitted to the Sharjah Consultative Council that a campaign to recruit Emiratis had not worked, UAE daily The National reported on Sunday.
We admit this whole campaign was a complete failure,” he said. “We have tried several times, and I will tell you that we shall continue trying.”
Officials said there had been almost no Emirati interest in such jobs, the paper reported.
Al Shamsi said that since the SPTC launched the Emiratisation process among taxi drivers almost five years ago, only one national had enquired about a position as a driver.
“He called in the evening saying that he wanted a job as a driver, and in the morning, we called him back – he said he didn’t want the job anymore,” Al Shamsi said.
“We asked him why and if he had got another job – he said he was a national and was content to remain unemployed if he didn’t get a decent job as a national.”
Sharjah is not the only emirate that has tried to hire more Emiratis in the transport industry. Last summer, TransAD, Abu Dhabi’s taxi regulator, advertised jobs for retired Emiratis in Arabic-language newspapers, urging them to apply to be taxi and limousine drivers.