Binladin Group gets government funds

The government has transferred delayed funds to Saudi Binladin Group so it can pay back-wages to its remaining employees, the company said.
The firm “received some payment in the last couple of weeks,” said Yaseen Alattas, Saudi Binladin Group’s chief communications officer.
Alattas said Saudi Binladin Group has already finished payments to around 70,000 laid-off workers.
“They got paid completely with all their due salaries and their final indemnities,” he said, adding that the expatriates among them have gone home.
Some workers still with the company have also received their delayed wages, “based on the payments that are coming now from the government.”
Alattas said those payments will continue “based proportionately to the payments as they come from the government.”
He was not specific about how many employees remain with the company, but said it is a “floating number” based on projects.
Alattas has previously said the number of laid-off workers was a fraction of manpower at the Group which built some of the Kingdom’s landmarks.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the government paid Saudi Binladin Group between $800 million and $1.1 billion in September to cover unpaid wages.
Alattas told AFP in May that there had been “multiple reasons” for the wage delays, but one was related to “cash flow.”

Source: Arab News