RIYADH, 15 June 2006 — The Ministry of Social Affairs is to give fishing boats to deserving people living around the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea coasts to help them find regular income.
“This is a new project which was proved successful in a pilot program undertaken by the ministry in Al-Gahma coast in the Asir Province,” Mohammed Al-Okhlah, deputy minister for social affairs, told delegates at a three-day workshop, which concluded here yesterday.
A total of 81 directors from various departments of the ministry participated in the workshop that evaluated welfare projects and explored new areas of rehabilitation work in the country.
Al-Okhlah said his ministry would shortly sign an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture for the construction of six fishing harbors and purchase of boats for the fishermen who receive monthly grants from the ministry.
“The projects aim at assisting deserving people earn their livelihood without depending on others,” the deputy minister said. “The experimental project in Asir had given us refreshed hope that this could be viable among the poor living in the coastal belt.”
The ministry offers financial grants worth SR512 million annually to some 450,000 families spread throughout the Kingdom.
He said the ministry recently introduced an easy payment scheme through ATM cards. The recipients could receive their allowances in time from banks in the vicinity of their homes, he added.
He told the delegates that the government is dedicated to working for the welfare of its people. Besides the monthly allowance, plans are under way to give clothes, dry rations and medicines free of charge to these people. The ministry had also furnished 592 houses constructed for the poor by charitable institutions in areas such as Yanbu, Riyadh, Tabuk and Asir.
Another cluster of 1,151 such houses will be furnished by the ministry in the course of this year, he added.
