JEDDAH, 29 May 2005 — Saudi Arabia has launched a number of charitable housing projects in various parts of the country. The projects provide decent housing facilities for those who need them. Crown Prince Abdullah initiated the scheme three years ago after visiting a slum area in a Riyadh neighborhood.
Recently the crown prince allocated SR2 billion from the budget surplus for the low-cost housing scheme. “The regions that are badly in need of such housing facilities will be given priority,” said Social Affairs Minister Abdul Mohsen Al-Akkas. The project will be implemented in coordination with regional governorates, he added.
According to a survey conducted by the Prince Abdullah Foundation for Housing, poverty exists in many parts of the Kingdom. Officials who conducted the survey blamed unemployment and inadequate social security allowances for the poverty. The crown prince has called for a national strategy to eliminate poverty.
The Prince Abdullah Foundation has begun the construction of emergency housing units in Al-Shabaan and Al-Hasa villages in the Tabuk region, Al-Nabah village in the Madinah region, Al-Ghala village in the Makkah region, Al-Raas Birraith village in Jizan and Al-Juran village in the Eastern Province.
The Prince Salman Charitable Housing Project in Riyadh is currently building four housing complexes in the capital. According to Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Masoud, assistant secretary-general of the project, a total of 455 houses will be built under the scheme. The first complex will have 122 houses to accommodate about 800 people, he added.
“The second complex is designed to have 126 housing units,” Masoud said, adding that they would be handed over to deserving individuals and families within a few months. Each housing complex is provided with a mosque, cultural centers, shopping centers, parks, playgrounds and public utility facilities. Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, has donated SR3 million to the project.
The keys to 30 villas were given to the poor under the first phase of a charitable housing project launched by the Prince Sultan Foundation in Tabuk. The project, which was carried out at a cost of SR22.7 million, includes 120 housing units, a mosque, schools and commercial centers.
The Higher Women’s Committee for Social and Humanitarian Services in the Makkah region distributed 300 housing units to those who needed them last year. The committee also took the initiative to build 120 housing units for the victims of flash floods in the Shaaba district of Khalees. There are a number of villages and townships in the region that require housing units, says Princess Sara bint Abdul Mohsen Al-Anqari, chairperson of the committee.
The low-cost charitable housing project in the Eastern Province, named after Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd, received a donation of SR1 million from the Princess Anoud Charitable Foundation. Similar philanthropic projects are being carried out in other parts of the country with the support of governors, princes and businessmen.
