The crisis surrounding major Saudi Arabian construction company Saudi Binladin Group, which has been struggling to pay its workers, will be resolved, Labour Minister Mufrej al-Haqbani said on Tuesday...speaking to reporters at a business conference in Riyadh, [he] said some Binladin workers would get their salaries this month, and some later. He did not say how Binladin would obtain the money to pay its staff.

Some Saudi construction companies have complained that their financial situation has been made more difficult because the government has delayed payments to them for work already done. Asked if the government owes Binladin money, Haqbani replied: "For me, any contract between an employer and an employee is non-conditional. It is a contract between a company and an employee that the employee will work and receive his salary. No conditions."

Asked whether the government might intervene to protect the jobs of Saudis, Haqbani replied that a wage protection system safeguarded employees' salaries and that foreign workers would receive their salaries even if they left the country.