Empty MoI promises irk home delivery company owners

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 10: The problems facing small and medium-sized business owners who have licenses for consumer delivery companies have escalated, after the Ministry of Interior issued oral decisions, according to them, that hinder the continuation of their work as normal and put many obstacles in front of them, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The owners of delivery companies, which includes 320 commercial licenses, threatened, in their conversation with Al-Qabas, to escalate to confront what they called “the dangers of oral decisions issued by the Ministry of Interior, which threatens the national economy and disrupts the work of institutions, restaurants and shopping centers,”noting that they will “go for a sit-in and then strike” from work, in the event of continued abuse and unfairness.”

They denounced the instructions issued by the Interior Minister regarding reducing the number of vehicles of delivery companies, and the consequent reduction in employment, and reliance on bulk and marginal labor to conduct their business.

They explained to Al-Qabas that the delivery company license can obtain a maximum of 100 vehicles with 100 drivers to conduct business, and are currently reduced to 30 vehicles and 15 motorcycles only, which mean that 55 workers will have to be deported or forced out of the labor market.

They said that the growth in demand for delivery services increased by more than 40%, but reducing the number of vehicles and motorcycles and not allowing them to increase, made electronic applications and some commercial stores and supermarkets resort to ‘irregular workers’, because they need delivery drivers.

They stressed that any prevention or reduction contributes to achieving material losses for them, as these decisions harm 1,338 active projects in the sector, noting that not reversing these decisions will negatively affect the activity and lead to labor and financial problems resulting in large losses that affect contracting and delivery companies, initiators and sales platforms.

They called on the Ministry of the Interior to keep pace with the Public Authority for Manpower decision to achieve real support and preserve their projects, and to exclude them from the number specified in Resolution No. 271/2020 and allow them to have 90 vehicles to meet the market need and maintain projects.

The Association of Owners of Delivery Companies expressed its hope that government agencies will adhere to the recommendations of the political leadership aimed at supporting project owners and put forward three demands -- raise the permitted licenses to 90, supporting the PAM decision instead of reducing and saving 320 business licenses from the specter of bankruptcy

They indicated that “delivery companies played an important role in increasing the sales of restaurants, delivery platforms and electronic commerce, and also contributed to the employment of national labor and alleviating the financial burden on the state treasury, by abandoning employees working in the government sector to the free sector.”