Business & Money | Friday 28 August, 2015 2:15 am |

There has been a flurry of activity on the Kingdom’s highways as service companies race to meet the Jan. 19 deadline for the revamp of dilapidated gas stations.
The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs has previously handed out rehabilitation certificates for a period of three years to five national companies to operate and maintain fuel stations on public roads between cities and provinces.

The five contracted companies are the Saudi Automotive Services Company (SASCO), Petromin Company, Emirates National Oil Company Ltd. (ENOC) L.L.C., Tashelat Marketing Company (Sahel) and Oil Services Company Ltd. They are required to operate 70 high-quality stations.
The ministry encouraged stations from the A and B categories to contract a private establishment that is qualified to manage, operate and maintain stations, and introduce technical and engineering improvements.
At a meeting on April 1, 2013, the Council of Ministers decided to upgrade the country’s highway service stations based on the recommendations of a ministerial committee.

The move followed a submission by the president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH) to improve service centers on regional roads, based on the country’s tourism development strategy.
The SCTNH has been working with various bodies including the Interior and Transport Ministries, and regional governments, to address the quality of services in these important sites for citizens, residents and tourists.

The SCTNH has launched several initiatives over the past few years to improve the levels of service, including conducting field surveys and assessment of all stations and facilities, granting quality certificates and preparing designs and operational mechanisms.
In addition, the SCTNH has signed cooperation agreements with three qualified companies — SASCO, ENOC and Petromin — to develop service centers on regional roads to assist in job creation, help craftspeople sell their products and attract tourists.
SASCO is the first company that began to change and raise quality levels before the Cabinet decision was taken, by building four new stations and upgrading 10 others.

ENOC’s first station is expected to be opened soon on the Dammam-Jubail road, while Petromin is preparing for the establishment of four stations in the central and western regions.
Sahel and the Oil Services Company are expected to announce their list of projects in the coming weeks.