MAKKAH: More than 700 school-construction projects are on hold across the Kingdom despite the availability of funding because of problems related to obtaining the land for these projects, an official at the Education Ministry said on Sunday at a workshop on Makkah educational development.
“We have not been able to implement these projects due to the shortage of land,” said Abdul Rahman ibn Ibrahim, undersecretary of the Ministry of Education in charge of building schools.
He said about 500 of these projects have been approved and funds have been allocated in last year’s budget, including 126 projects in Makkah province alone.
This year’s budgetary allocations for the construction of schools has added more projects that cannot move forward due to the land issue.
The workshop focused on how to stabilize land prices in Makkah so that more public schools can be built at more reasonable prices. Land valuation has grown rapidly in the holy city.
Meanwhile, according to education official Ibrahim Yousef Sheqdar the demand for public schools has shot up with the growing population. “For many years, two or three schools were opened every day,” he said.
Sheqdar said there are 25,000 schools in the Kingdom of which 16,000 are in rented buildings.
Minister of Education Prince Faisal ibn Abdullah, who also addressed the workshop, said he hoped a solution to this problem would come soon.
