According to the order posted on the website of the Ministry
of Commerce and Industry said, which brings the steel market under the regular
official monitoring, brought relief to project owners and contractors in the
construction market.
The order posted on the website of the Ministry of Commerce
and Industry said the steel has been brought under “the rule for regularizing the
supply of provisions in extraordinary situations.” Consequently, those who
violated the regulations will be punished with a fine up to SR50,000,
shuttering the shop or branch where the violation occurred for 15 days and
publishing the report of punishment in newspaper published in the region.
Some of the violations posted in the website are the refusal
to sell steel, hoarding or hiking its price directly or indirectly above the
price fixed by the ministry.
A leading businessman and chairman of the board of directors
of the Jabal Umar Co. in Makkah, Abdul Rahman Al-Fakieh sid that Prince Naif's
latest order would stabilize the local steel market. He said the present
volatile steel market upset budgets of many companies and impeded construction
projects.
Abdullah Al-Ridwan, a member of the Contractors Committee at
the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “The new order will bring
about steadiness to the steel market and enable projects to complete in time.”
He said there were also orders to regulate the markets of
other essential building materials such as red brick and cement.
Commenting on the new order Hamad Al-Saeedan, a real estate
broker, said the new regulations would attract more investments to the
construction sector and pave the way to end the shortage of residential units
and stabilize rents and price of houses.
“The unstable price of steel and other building materials
has been upsetting the construction projects in the Kingdom in recent times,”
he said.
