The king also issued six other decrees including one
appointing Lt. Gen. Abdul Rahman Al-Murshid to the post of deputy chief of
general staff and Maj. Gen. Khaled bin Bandar as the new commander of the land
forces after promoting him to the rank of lieutenant general.
The other appointments include Abdul Aziz bin Muhammad
Al-Nassaar as the chief of the Court of Grievances, replacing Ibrahim
Al-Huqail. Ahmad bin Muhammad Al-Saif was named deputy minister of higher
education after Ali Al-Attiyah was relieved of the position. Abdullah bin Abdul
Aziz Al-Darrab will be the new governor of the Communications and Information
Technology Commission.
The king has also extended the tenures of the president of
the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology Muhammed Ibrahim
Al-Suwaiyel and president of Saudi Railway Organization Abdul Aziz Al-Huqail
for four years. Deputy Chairman of the Human Rights Commission Zaid bin Abdul Mohsen
Al-Hussain’s period of service has been extended for four more years.
SRO President Al-Hugail won applause for undertaking and
executing massive expansion projects for the Saudi railway. Speaking to Arab
News in Dammam, a very delighted Al-Hugail thanked the Kingdom's leadership for
the honor and trust invested in him and his team.
"I feel honored and would like to thank first and
foremost Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for reposing trust in
me and my team's work at the Saudi Railway Organization. I also thank Crown
Prince Sultan and Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Prince Naif.
It is a big responsibility and I hope to meet their expectations," he
said. "We will do our best to carry out the tasks that we have undertaken
to expand the railway network across the length and breadth of the
Kingdom."
Al-Hugail sought God's blessing and the support of the
leadership to carry out the "gigantic task" of rail network
expansion. "We are in the process of reviewing the strategic railway
master plan that we undertook six months ago ... It is finalized ...We need to
prioritize its implementation," he said and pointed out the number of big
projects that the SRO is currently busy executing.
"The Haramain High Speed Rail is going ahead at full
speed. It will link Madinah and Makkah via King Abdullah Economic City, Rabigh,
Jeddah and King Abdul Aziz International Airport. It will connect with the
national network at Jeddah. This project is progressing quite
satisfactorily," he said, and added: "And then we have the ongoing
North-South Railway Project. It is going according to our plan."
