The Kingdom is developing roadside stations and services along the highways by enhancing their service levels. The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, which is the implementing agency for the project, will develop new standards for roadside stations in cooperation with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA).

Prince Sultan bin Salman, SCTA president, met last week with Prince Mansour bin Met’ab, minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MoMRA) and members of the technical committee formed for the purpose. Abdul Aziz Al-Abdul Kareem, undersecretary for Technical Affairs at MoMRA, heads this committee.

They reviewed the mechanisms and criteria that the committee developed for the roadside stations.

The Council of Ministers earlier had asked SCTA to improve roadside stations and service centers on the highways. This request was based on the general strategy for the development of the national tourism.

During the meeting Prince Sultan said, “SCTA supports the efforts of MoMRA for the success of the project under the leadership of the minister, who personally patronizes this initiative.”

Earlier, SCTA had announced a program for quality certificates for roadside stations, designed to raise the level of services. These would be subject to continued evaluation in addition to many other SCTA measures, such as setting guiding designs and operation mechanisms for roadside stations.

The commission has also sought issuance of a resolution by the minster to obligate roadside stations to obtain operation licenses from SCTA for their accommodation facilities.

The SCTA president also agreed on the technical committee’s request to utilize the commission’s expertise in the classification of accommodation facilities, which has created a significant shift in the sector of hotels and furnished apartments.

The technical committee intends to take advantage of the SCTA’s experience in this field to classify operating companies and set up regulations for the development of service centers and roadside stations along the Kingdom’s highways.