Riyadh-Amlak
The number of citizens registered on the waiting list for land grants has reached 1.2 million, according to the latest census. This was revealed by Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Prince Mansour bin Miteb bin Abdulaziz in a statement on the sidelines of the seminar «Localization of engineering expertise in development projects», which was held recently in Riyadh, during which he discussed the ministry's plans and programs and its efforts in the field of localizing national competencies in development projects within the basic objectives set by the development plans.
Grant lands and housing
The Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs said that the municipal grants allocated to citizens have been transferred to the Ministry of Housing, which applies them according to its programs, noting that a committee has been formed to coordinate between the two ministries to transfer municipal grants to the Ministry of Housing, and everyone works as one team, and a mechanism has been developed to implement the decision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to transfer the distribution of grants.
During his speech at the symposium, the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs explained that «the localization of national competencies in development projects is one of the important topics, and falls within the basic objectives set by the development plans, and we look forward to the symposium to evaluate the existing legislation and programs aimed at increasing localization and looking at existing experiences to assess the current situation and determine what we need to achieve localization».
He added that the theme of the symposium comes within the directions of the ninth development plans to develop and develop national capacities and improve their productive capabilities, and promote development and its continuity through the development of human resources, stressing that the theme of this symposium is an extension of the development programs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
He stressed that the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs considers, through its various programs, that the citizen is the means and end of development, and that the ministry cooperates with the Saudi Council of Engineers to benefit from the expertise and energies of the members of the «Authority” in many special programs regarding building code, classification of contractors and audit of many projects, stressing that the Authority is the main reference through which the engineering profession is developed.
Localization of engineering expertise
For his part, Ghazi Al-Abbasi, Secretary General of the Saudi Council of Engineers, said that the seminar «Localization of engineering expertise in development projects» aimed to identify the most important issues facing the localization of engineering expertise, discuss solutions, identify the most important obstacles to the localization of engineering expertise in project management and engineering departments in the government sector, identify some successful experiences and lessons learned to localize engineering expertise, and highlight the role of policies and legislation in localization.
In his speech, Al-Abbasi pointed out that the symposium came at an important time to contribute to raising performance standards and developing and localizing national engineering human resources in various sectors and at all levels, as it discussed three main themes: the challenges of localizing engineering jobs in the government sector, the initiatives of major bodies and companies in localizing engineering jobs, and finally the role of consulting offices in localizing engineering jobs.
Engineering work in the Kingdom
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Council of Engineers, Engineer Hamad Al-Shaqawi, pointed out in his speech to the symposium that the Saudi Council of Engineers practiced its active role after a few years after its establishment This makes us hope that it will play greater roles in serving the profession and upgrading the level of engineers and engineering leaders at a time when national responsibility requires us to be an energy of construction and development.
He stressed that the Commission seeks to raise the status of the engineering profession and its practitioners, as it plays a key role in the legislative and regulatory affairs related to the profession, and seeks to raise the level of practicing the engineering profession and the scientific and technical level of engineers, in addition to organizing engineering work in the Kingdom, and working on the quality of engineering and consulting services, and thus the quality of the engineering product provided to the community, and this seminar is a translation of that role.
