Saudi Arabia has approved a project to build 557 new houses near its capital Riyadh within an ongoing programme to provide housing for its citizens in all areas.

The National Housing Company, an affiliate of the Housing Ministry, signed a contract on Wednesday with the local developer Saudi Real Estate Co to construct the units in the Eastern outskirts of the city, the Arabic language daily Alriyadh said.

The project has an area of around 2.4 million square metres and is located nearly 25 minutes from the town center, the report said.

Saudi Arabia, which has embarked on an ambitious economic diversification scheme dubbed Vision 2030, has signed similar deals with several other local and foreign developers to build houses and apartments as part of plans to expand citizens' house ownership from 60 percent in 2015 to 70 percent at the end of that scheme.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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