Real Estate – Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, Acting Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, issued a decision approving the implementing instructions governing the regulations on property disposal Municipal Real Estate has been updated, as part of the sector’s efforts to develop the municipal investment system; with the aim of creating an attractive investment environment to draw high-quality investments to Saudi cities by providing the legislative framework to achieve this within a fair and competitive environment that enhances the private sector’s appetite for investing with municipalities to develop Saudi cities, thereby improving the quality of life there.
Optimizing the Use of Municipal Real Estate
Minister Al-Hogail emphasized that modernizing Regulations and Implementing Instructions governing them, taking into account and addressing the practical challenges of previous years, and incorporating relevant best practices, so that this may—God willing—contribute to achieving the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030; to increase the private sector’s contribution to urban development and make optimal use of municipal real estate to provide the appropriate infrastructure for their advancement, In updating the regulations and their implementing instructions, the Ministry also took into account the diversity of investment opportunities to suit all segments of investors.
Key Features of the Regulation Updates
Engineer Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Daghither, Undersecretary for Planning and Programs at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, reviewed the updates to the regulations during a press conference held this Wednesday morning at the Ministry’s headquarters, the key features of the regulatory updates, for which implementing instructions have been issued, including:
– Enabling the qualification of investors based on their technical capability and financial solvency for specific types of projects, thereby ensuring the quality and sustainability of investment projects.
– Opening new horizons by enabling various models of partnership with the private sector and increasing the maximum contract term to 50 years, thereby facilitating the attraction of capital investments for major projects.
– Amending the rent-free period to include the time required for construction, extending it to a maximum of 10% of the project’s duration.
– The regulations include the option to directly lease municipal properties for temporary purposes on an immediate basis for a period of up to three months.
– The value of bank guarantees required when bidding on tenders has been reduced to 25% of the annual bid value, down from the previous 100%.
The regulations also included numerous measures aimed at improving the quality of life in cities.
Al-Daghither concluded his remarks by noting that the update to the regulations governing the disposal of municipal real estate and the issuance of the implementing instructions governing them; is part of the legislative process for initiatives to develop the municipal investment system, and the Ministry is working on several other tracks, all of which—God willing—will contribute to the success of the municipal investment system’s development.
Real Estate
