JEDDAH, 22 August 2005 — Prince Miteb, minister of municipal and rural affairs, yesterday announced plans to appoint mayors in all the Kingdom’s 13 regions and named new mayors for Asir and Qasim.

The current mayors of Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and Dammam remain in their posts.

In a series of administrative decisions, the minister also abolished the directorates for municipal affairs in Riyadh, Makkah, Qasim and Asir regions and the Eastern Province and brought all municipalities under mayors in each region.

He changed the names of mayoralties and brought them under regions instead of cities. The changes were made on recommendations by the ministerial committee for administrative reforms, the Saudi Press Agency said.

“All municipalities and rural centers in the Riyadh region will come under the mayoralty of the region,” Prince Miteb said. He appointed Ahmed ibn Abdullah Al-Tuwaijeri, deputy mayor of the Riyadh region.

The municipalities of Taif, Jamoom, Raniya, Turba and Kharma and the rural center in Mawiya will come under the mayor of Makkah while the municipalities of Rabigh, Qunfuda, Laith, Khalees, Kamil and Qauz and the rural centers of Adham and Thuraiban under the mayor of Jeddah.

The name of Abha Municipality has been changed to the Mayoralty of the Asir region, SPA said, adding that Hamdan ibn Faris Al-Osaimi had been appointed mayor of the region.

Prince Miteb changed the name of Buraidah Municipality to Mayoralty of the Qasim region and named Ahmed ibn Saleh Al-Sultan as the region’s mayor. He did not name the new mayors for the regions of Baha, Tabuk, Jizan, Najran, the Northern Border Province, Al-Jouf and Hail.

The new administrative changes come ahead of the formation of 178 municipal councils in various parts of the country. The government has already conducted nationwide elections to select half the members of these councils.

A total of 592 candidates were elected in the polls conducted early this year. The polls were held in three phases by secret ballot. The remaining members will be appointed shortly.

The ministry has created a separate department to set out a broad framework within which the municipal councils will function and Abdullah Al-Subayyel has been entrusted with the task of streamlining the councils’ affairs.

According to Dr. Ibrahim Al-Quayid, an elected member of the Riyadh Municipal Council, a chairman and a deputy chairman for every council will be chosen from among the members by an electoral group composed of all elected and nominated members.