After careful consideration of the circumstances, the minister decided to give the owners an additional 12 months. (SPA)

The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs has granted 12 months to female workshop owners for rectifying their situations. This period begins immediately.

This move is being taken after it was realized late last year that 90 percent of female workshops were threatened with closure. This was the result of 14 businesswomen in Madinah saying they were stopping commercial activities in the light of the Madinah municipality’s decision to split the classification concerning beauty salons and female workshops. Previously both were in the same category.

The ministry has issued a circular concerning the agreement of the minister of municipal and rural affairs and signed by Undersecretary Yusuf bin Saleh Al-Saif to extend rectification for the beauty salon owners. The period must not be longer than 12 months. This decision was made after many complaints were made to the ministry from workshop owners in different areas of the Kingdom. They stated that such a split would lead to mass closures.

In addition to the complaints of posible losses, the head of the Madinah Chamber of Commerce and Industry wrote a letter to the minister. He said the businesswomen were owners of the workshops and faced real problems relating to the split and the decision to allow a license for each, the saloons and workshops. He pleaded with the minister not to implement the decision.

After careful consideration of the circumstances, the minister decided to give the owners an additional 12 months.

Ruqaya Al-Qarni, a member of the Committee on Women’s Workshops at the Madinah chamber and herself a workshop owner, said a letter was sent to Madinah Mayor Khaled Taher from the businesswomen protesting the decision to split the two.

She said the decision was made last year and would have taken effect in the middle of this year.

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