JEDDAH, 4 May 2006 — Regions such as Jizan, Najran, Madinah, Al-Jouf, Hail and the Northern Border Province will receive the lion’s share of 16,000 low-cost homes approved by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, according to Social Affairs Minister Abdul Mohsen Al-Akkas. Work on the project, costing SR2.4 billion, will start in two months.
A technical panel, led by Abdul Rahman Al-Toraif, assistant deputy minister for low-cost housing, will visit Najran, Jizan, Asir and the Northern Border Province early next week to study their housing requirements and acquire land for the project.
Al-Akkas said the new houses would be distributed free of charge to the needy in various parts of the Kingdom.
“They will not be charged even for maintenance, which would be carried out by the Ministry of Social Affairs,” the minister said. “We’ll implement the project within two months after acquiring land from regional governorates,” he added.
The ministry has already prepared designs for the housing units after considering the requirements of Saudi families.
According to Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Oqla, deputy minister for social insurance and low-cost housing, people of Jizan, Najran and the Northern Border Province will receive houses constructed under the project first. Each region will get 1,500 houses with all facilities.
He said the cost of a single housing unit could be determined only after calling tenders for the project. Each housing complex will have a vocational training center, recreation facilities, a social service center, schools and a mosque.
King Abdullah has allocated SR10 billion to construct 64,000 low-cost houses in the next four years for hundreds of Saudi families who live in makeshift buildings and slums in various parts of the country.
According to a survey conducted by the Prince Abdullah Foundation for Housing, people live in poverty in many parts of the Kingdom. The survey found that as many as 10 people sleep in one room in Qunfuda, a town south of Jeddah.
Officials who conducted the survey blamed unemployment and inadequate social security for the situation. The officials noted a lack of infrastructure facilities and utility services, such as electricity, water, schools and roads in Asfan and Laith in the Makkah region.
There also found people living in run-down buildings in Wajh in the Tabuk region. Poverty is common in Bedouin areas of Baha. Many villages in the region lack roads linking them with another village or a town. Most of the poor in the Asir and Jizan regions live in coastal areas and mountainous regions.
