Saudi Arabia’s Housing Minister, Dr Shuwaish bin Said Al-Dhuwaihi, has signed eight new contracts worth $1.06 billion to develop 26 square kilometres of land in the Kingdom. According to the official Saudi Press Agency, the deals will see land developed across a number of cities in the Kingdom to provide housing to accommodate 250,000 citizens. It added that this was being delivered as part of the intiative by King Abdullah to provide more land and housing loans to citizens in the Kingdom. In 2011, the King pledged to deliver up to 500,000 new low-cost housing units for citizens and in April this year a decree was issued pledging $66.7 billion to fund the homes. The decree also removed many obstacles to the programme’s delivery, instructing that the ministry of municipal affairs handed over land to the housing ministry and that the finance ministry approved the necessary funds for the units to be built. Speaking at a press conference, Dr Al-Dhuwaihi was reported to have expressed his thanks to the King, the Crown Prince and Saudi Arabia’s Second Deputy Premier for their ongoing support for
the initiative.
