KUWAIT: Hundreds of taxi drivers have been ticketed by traffic policemen for not using their meters or not adjusting them to the new fee structure set by the interior ministry after the recent hike in petrol prices. But owners of taxi companies are upset as they didn't get enough time to make the change, as this has to be done by special companies that are authorized by the interior ministry. Taxi owners yesterday met Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Sabah to resolve the problem, and the ministry agreed to cancel the fines and give taxis a one-month grace period to adjust their meters.

Khalid Al-Mutairi, owner of a roaming taxi company, said the delay in adjusting the meters is not their fault. "Adjusting the meter needs some time, as this has to be done by special companies, which until now are not ready. They have to import some machines as this is the first time to adjust the meters since they were first launched in Kuwait in 2002. They haven't even set the charges for this adjustment," he told Kuwait Times.

Only three companies in Kuwait are authorized by the interior ministry to adjust the meters of both roaming and call taxis. Hossam, an employee at Al Hada, one of these companies, noted that this process needs time. "In order to adjust the meters to the new fee, we need to import machines to do the programming. We also need to employ skilled technicians to operate these machines," he noted. "These new machines are expensive, in addition to the shipping and manpower costs, so we have to charge the taxi companies accordingly. I'm still not sure about the exact price that we will set for them, but I assume it may be between KD 10-15. We will be doing this for both the roaming and call taxis," added Hossam.

Hossam also claimed a person in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh is installing meters and programming them, although he is not authorized to do so. "Our meters are imported from Austria, and are the same at all authorized companies, but this person brings used meters from Saudi Arabia and changes the currency to dinar. His work is illegal, and customers won't notice the difference in meters, unless they demand the card of the meter, which will show it's not the one authorized by the ministry."

By Nawara Fattahova