Privatisation of postal services is being successfully implemented, with 100 agencies set up by the private sector, according to a senior official of the Ministry of Posts, Telephones and Telegraphs.
Dr Khaled Al-Otaibi, Director General of Posts, said that the number of inhabitants served by each postal employee increased from 2,200 to 2,244 since the launch of the privatisation program. The percentage of delivery mail within 48 hours also increased from 74 to 78%. “We are looking forward to making maximum use of modern technology, particularly via the Internet, which helps trace mail from receipt to delivery,” Dr Al-Otaibi said in a preface to the annual statistical report of the Directorate General of Posts for the year 2001.
He said that the postal department handled 939 million items of local and international mail, 1.54 million items of express mail, and over 665,000 parcels. Postal coverage reached 6,264 towns and villages across the Kingdom, via 461 government-run post offices, 185 branch offices, 72 private post offices, 770 postal agencies and 97 express mail centres.
The Director General said that this privatisation scheme has significantly contributed to growth of the private sector. Private post offices earn 15% commission from the sale of ordinary and commemorative stamps. Their earnings also include 20% commission for franking letters and 100% of charges for subscriber boxes. The business has proven to be lucrative as each agency handles at least 1,000 boxes. He said that overseas mail constitutes 54.5% of the total mail service. Statistics revealed that the volume of mail is declining due to the increasing use of e-mail as means for communication.
Source: SPA
