The company in charge of implementing 4 contracts for school buses, which won the tender for being the lowest price, put the Ministry of Education in a dilemma, as it expressed its apology for implementing the four contracts in the current school year and postponing it until next year 2023-2024, stressing that “the recruitment and training of drivers and escorts and the manufacture and supply of buses takes no less than 6 months.
In a letter sent to the ministry, the company proposed the implementation of these contracts during the next three academic years, taking into account “price variables according to the new global conditions,” reports a local Arabic daily.
The company attributed its proposal to the high prices of buses due to the large change orders in their manufacture (iron and raw materials exclusively), and the high prices and difficulty of freight operations according to global changes at the present time, with the increasing delays and the lack of manpower due to the taking of some precautionary measures by some bus-manufacturing countries.
The sources confirmed the high inflation rates in countries in accordance with global changes, which resulted in raising interest rates in current and future banks.
The sources indicated that it did not conclude contracts for the recruitment and training of drivers, as well as the lengthy state procedures regarding the issuance of driving permits and licenses, adding that “if the company concludes contracts for the recruitment of drivers, this will result in the company bearing all the financial burdens related to the drivers, and granting them all their entitlements such as annual vacations according to the labor law without actually benefiting from them.”
The company also attributed the request to postpone the implementation of bus contracts to the next academic year to the length of the procedures for the documentary cycle of the tender, as it was put forward on July 25, 2021 and received the award letter on September 1, 2022, meaning that the period exceeded the year.
