About 40 per cent of small construction firms in Saudi Arabia have been closed following the crackdown on illegal expatriate workers in the kingdom, a report said.

Thousands of expatriate workers have not been able to rectify their status during the amnesty period, said the Arab News report.

The figures were released recently by “The seven-month time frame allocated for the correction process was not enough to rectify 20 years of errors,” Fahd Al-Hamadi, head of the national committee for construction at the Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC), was quoted as saying by the report.

He said small firms are finding it extremely difficult to hire workers from outside, change their professions, or recruit from other construction companies.