JEDDAH, 9 May 2007 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday emphasized his government’s plan to achieve balanced growth for all regions of the Kingdom. “We don’t have certain regions considered as first class and certain others as second class. All are equal before God and before the nation,” the king said at a public reception in Arar.
King Abdullah is on a tour of the Kingdom’s northern regions, his first since becoming king in August 2005. Accompanied by Crown Prince Sultan and a large number of senior princes and ministers, the king will also visit Al-Jouf and Tabuk regions. During his tour the Saudi monarch will launch several educational, health and infrastructure projects which are worth billions of riyals.
King Abdullah announced the plan to establish a university in Arar to be called the Northern Border University. The announcement drew enthusiastic applause from a large crowd at Monday night’s reception.
A mega-economic city will be established in Tabuk as part of the government’s efforts to promote the economic development of the region. Informed sources said work on the long-awaited Saudi-Egyptian Causeway linking Ras Humaid in Tabuk and Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt would start within a week. The 50-km causeway will be completed within three years at a cost of $3 billion.
In his speech at the reception, King Abdullah urged the people of the Northern Border Region to stand united under their leadership, maintaining their patriotism and rejecting both regionalism and tribalism. “During this visit, a number of development projects will be inaugurated. Hopefully these projects will contribute to improving the welfare and prosperity of people in the region,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the king as saying at the reception.
King Abdullah launched new educational, health, electricity, water, municipal and road projects worth SR6.3 billion. He also laid the foundation for the first phase of the Northern Border University, which is to cost SR500 million and includes a science college and a women’s college in Arar, a community college and a women’s college in Rafha.
The king also opened the 100-bed Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Musaed Hospital, which was established at a cost of SR157.18 million, and the 100-bed Rafha Central Hospital, which was built at a cost of SR167.53 million. He also laid the foundation for a 200-bed maternity and children’s hospital (SR75 million), a 100-bed mental hospital (SR65 million), a medical tower at Arar Central Hospital (SR75 million), another medical tower in Rafha (SR45 million), and a 50-bed hospital at Jadeeda Arar (SR28 million).
King Abdullah later toured an exhibition showcasing new projects to be implemented in the Northern Border Region by the ministries of health, higher education, education, transport, water and electricity, and municipal and rural affairs, the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training, the General Organization of Social Insurance and Al-Oula Real Estate Development Company. The king instructed officials to continue the exhibition for two weeks.
On Monday night, the king examined a model of the Cultural Center project and laid the foundation for the Northern Region Cement Company. He inspected a model of the low-cost housing project for the poor in Rafha which will be built by the King Abdullah Charitable Housing Project. Dr. Yousuf Al-Othaimeen, secretary-general of the foundation, said 100 housing units would be built in Rafha in the first phase of the project, adding that the houses would be ready within 20 months. The foundation has constructed a number of housing units in Tabuk, Madinah, Makkah and Jizan during the past three months. As many as 2,000 new housing units are under construction in Hail, Baha and the Eastern Province at a cost of SR500 million.
Al-Jouf will be the king’s next stop. The governor of the region, Prince Fahd ibn Badr said the people of Al-Jouf had been awaiting the royal visit for a long time. King Abdullah is expected to launch new health, educational, electricity, road and water projects worth SR15 billion during the visit, the governor said. The new projects include Al-Jouf University, a college of science, a medical college, several schools for boys and girls and a number of technical colleges and vocational training centers, SPA said.
