AL GHARBIA (Abu Dhabi) - The trucks have to wait near the UAE's Al Ghuweifat border checkpoint for several days not because of any flaw in the Customs Department’s work system but due to the delay in the exit procedures at Al Bathaa checkpost in Saudi Arabia, according to Deputy Director of Al Sila Customs Department Salem Issa Al Hammadi.
He admitted that truck drivers have called for finding a solution to the congestion on the 7-km-long road that separates the UAE and the Saudi checkpoints.
The exporters and traders complain that they incur heavy losses because of the delay in completing the procedures. Goods like vegetables, fruits, meat and foodstuff become putrid in a short time.
The procedures at the Al Ghuweifat checkpoint take only a few minutes but the delay is at the Al Bathaa checkpoint in Saudi Arabia, Al Hammadi said.
The Al Ghuweifat checkpoint, 350km from the capital, has parking lots for the trucks waiting to cross the UAE border but the facilities are full most of the days.
"The Customs Department has submitted a letter to the Riyadh-based General Secretariat of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC) to find a solution to the problem. We are waiting for the reply," Al Hammadi said.
The number of trucks crossing the Al Ghuweifat checkpoint has been rising. As many as 916,934 trucks laden with products and goods crossed into Saudi Arabia through Al Ghuweifat and 459,410 entered the UAE last year.