DAMMAM: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah announced Friday in a royal decree that Gen. Hussain bin Abdullah Al-Qabil has been promoted from deputy chief of general staff to chief of general staff. He replaces Gen. Saleh bin Ali-Al-Mohayya. Al-Qabil was previously a lieutenant general and was promoted to general in the same decree.
The king also issued six other decrees including one appointing Lt. Gen. Abdul Rahman Al-Murshid to the post of deputy chief of general staff and Maj. Gen. Khaled bin Bandar as the new commander of the land forces after promoting him to the rank of lieutenant general.
The other appointments include Abdul Aziz bin Muhammad Al-Nassaar as the chief of the Court of Grievances, replacing Ibrahim Al-Huqail. Ahmad bin Muhammad Al-Saif was named deputy minister of higher education after Ali Al-Attiyah was relieved of the position. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Darrab will be the new governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission.
The king has also extended the tenures of the president of the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology Muhammed Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel and president of Saudi Railway Organization Abdul Aziz Al-Huqail for four years. Deputy Chairman of the Human Rights Commission Zaid bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Hussain's period of service has been extended for four more years.
SRO President Al-Hugail won applause for undertaking and executing massive expansion projects for the Saudi railway. Speaking to Arab News in Dammam, a very delighted Al-Hugail thanked the Kingdom's leadership for the honor and trust invested in him and his team.
"I feel honored and would like to thank first and foremost Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for reposing trust in me and my team's work at the Saudi Railway Organization. I also thank Crown Prince Sultan and Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Prince Naif. It is a big responsibility and I hope to meet their expectations," he said. "We will do our best to carry out the tasks that we have undertaken to expand the railway network across the length and breadth of the Kingdom."
Al-Hugail sought God's blessing and the support of the leadership to carry out the "gigantic task" of rail network expansion. "We are in the process of reviewing the strategic railway master plan that we undertook six months ago ... It is finalized ...We need to prioritize its implementation," he said and pointed out the number of big projects that the SRO is currently busy executing.
"The Haramain High Speed Rail is going ahead at full speed. It will link Madinah and Makkah via King Abdullah Economic City, Rabigh, Jeddah and King Abdul Aziz International Airport. It will connect with the national network at Jeddah. This project is progressing quite satisfactorily," he said, and added: "And then we have the ongoing North-South Railway Project. It is going according to our plan."
© Arab News 2011
