04 March 2016
RIYADH: The Ministry of Housing and the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for increasing cooperation between the two entities. The agreement for joint cooperation was signed on Thursday between Housing Minister Majed Al-Hogail and GACA President Sulaiman Al-Hamdan. According to the agreement, housing will be built in the vicinity of the Kingdom's airports. Thanking GACA, Al-Hogail said the joint cooperation would further strengthen the partnership between the two groups and help to fulfill the housing needs of GACA employees.

The cooperation has been implemented under the guidance of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of defense. Al-Hamdan said the cooperation would help solve housing problems among citizens. He added that under the agreement, GACA will provide suitable land around the Kingdom's airports for the housing ministry to build housing units for citizens.

Last week, the Ministry of Housing also announced that 84 percent of Riyadh housing projects have been completed. The projects are on a 5 million sq. meter plot of land located west of the King Khalid International Airport (KKIA). These include 2,242 plots of land with infrastructure, water networks, electricity, communication facilities. In addition there are also 606 apartments.

"These will be allocated to qualified beneficiaries who earlier applied for residential units," the ministry said. This is part of a project that provides for 2,848 housing units that include integrated facilities for qualified applicants. "The partnership aims to use other options to meet the increasing demand for residential units," the ministry said. Such options, it added, could include the construction of high-quality condominiums which have become very popular in other countries.

The ministry of housing is currently working to provide more residential units for Riyadh residents. It also said that the houses would be in accordance with the needs of different sectors of society in Riyadh, which has the largest population. As of last year, Riyadh's population was 4.9 million, with 68 percent being Saudis. The ministry added that it has stepped up efforts to provide residential units in various cities and provinces all over the Kingdom.

© Arab News 2016