AN MP has demanded a cap on the number of work permits issued to expatriates of certain nationalities.
The move is spearheaded by Mamdooh Al Saleh who told Parliament, during its weekly session yesterday, that there were “more than enough people of particular nationalities” in the labour market.
He thanked Labour Minister and Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) chairman Jameel Humaidan for a decision to stop issuing new work permits for Bangladeshis as their numbers reached 170,000 in the country.
“The labour market is saturated by certain nationalities,” he said.
“The ban on new Bangladeshi workers is welcome; this has now to be extended to Indians, with a population of 320,000, and Pakistanis (100,000).
“This will force businessmen to employ Bahrainis.”
Mr Humaidan said the government will do whatever it takes to make Bahrainis the preferable choice of employees.
“The cost gap between Bahrainis and expats is shrinking as we have increased expat labour fees, tightened up work permit conditions, and introduced wage incentives and support for Bahrainis,” he said.
The comments came during a debate on a special parliamentary report into the low living standards of nationals.
More than 100,000 Bahrainis have found employment or received salary enhancements over the last 17 years with Tamkeen allocating around BD2 billion to train and employ citizens through a range of programmes and initiatives.
Cabinet Affairs Minister Hamad Al Malki, who is also politically responsible for Tamkeen, told MPs that 118,000 Bahrainis had directly, or indirectly, benefited.
He added that more than 74,000 establishments had received funds over the same period.
The minister was responding to a question by Mohammed Al Ahmed on Tamkeen’s activities since its establishment in 2006 until the end of last year.
Tamkeen spends 80 per cent of its revenues on its programmes with the government covering the remaining 20pc.
Mr Al Malki said new schemes have been launched which is expected to benefit 50,000 Bahrainis.
He added that 104,000 job opportunities have been found for women, at a cost of more than BD208 million.
“The entrepreneurship support programme has benefited 24,000 companies owned by women, at a cost of BD250m; financing of around BD383m was made available from banks.”
Last year, 68pc of Bahrainis enrolled in Tamkeen-supported training programmes were women, 56pc benefited from the employment skills programme and 55pc from the professional certificates programme.
“More than 51pc establishments owned by women – fully or through shares – were supported last year, as well as entrepreneurs through the Riyadat financing scheme.”
Mr Al Malki said agreements signed with international institutes resulted in Bahrainis receiving specialised training in technology.
“Those programmes involved engineering applications, cybersecurity and developing iOS, amongst others, and so far this has led to 64.2pc of the participants being employed,” he said.
Tamkeen chief executive Maha Mofeez said employers’ response to new initiatives introduced six weeks ago have been overwhelming.
Works Minister Ibrahim Al Hawaj said that the new sports city in Sakhir was on the drawing board. He was responding to a question by Mohammed Al Olaiwi on the progress of work on the city.
“The consultant has completed the detailed drawings and is currently working on the final version and the tender requirements to issue it for bidders,” said the minister.
“Once a bidder is selected, work will begin and it will be completed in 36 months.”
&uuid=(email))