The Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, approved the updating and development of (12) technical requirements of the Technical Affairs Agency in the Ministry, including updates to the requirements for the activities of private schools, restaurants and kitchens, service centers (gas stations), sports buildings, transportation and vehicle services centers, wedding palaces and rest houses, advertising and advertising boards, warehouses, workshops and stores, in addition to the requirements for wireless communication towers and antennas, recreational buildings, professional buildings, health and social services buildings. (Real Estate)
Update 103 regulations and requirements
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs for Technical Affairs in charge, Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Jamaz, explained that these updates come within a package of updates that included 103 regulations, requirements, manuals, models, standards and applications for all activities of various types, and that work teams participated in the work of updating these requirements with the participation of 32 government and private entities and 17 secretariats.
According to Dr. Al-Jamaz, the aim is to improve the experience of beneficiaries, increase investment opportunities, control urban development, and put the requirements of all relevant authorities in one form issued by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
Increasing the building area of private schools
He pointed out that modernizing the technical requirements for activities contributes to the governance of roles and responsibilities, and supports the capabilities of investors to know the feasibility of investing in any of the municipal activities before starting, which is reflected in attracting investments for important development activities.
The technical requirements for the activities of private schools included increasing the number of floors of the buildings used in them to three instead of the previous two, specifying a square meter for each student, in addition to canceling the distance requirement between schools. The technical requirements for restaurants and kitchens also included eliminating the requirement for an entrance for singles and an entrance for families, eliminating the requirement for the length of the facade, and not specifying private spaces, in addition to allowing kitchens to operate on upper floors provided that surveillance cameras linked to monitors are placed.
500 square meters area for gas stations
The updates included the requirements for service centers (gas stations): Class «A» stations are defined outside cities, and class «B» stations are allowed inside cities, starting with stations with two pumps with an area of 500 square meters without any additional services, and if the investor wishes to add additional services such as (light maintenance, oil change, coffee shop and others); he must provide the specific areas required by the updated requirements, and the building ratio has been increased to 40% of the area allocated to stations outside cities, and 30% inside cities, which was previously limited to 40%. The percentage of construction has been increased to 40% of the area allocated to stations outside cities and 30% inside cities, which was previously limited to 10%; while the updates to the requirements for sports buildings include canceling the distance requirement between sports centers, and not specifying a certain area; rather, the decision is left to the absorptive capacity of the place and the capabilities of investors.
New requirements for health buildings
The requirements for health buildings include a minimum of 180 square meters for each bed in hospitals, a minimum of 400 square meters for medical complexes, and two and a half parking spaces per patient. Updates to the requirements for transportation centers and vehicle services included that they be located on a street with a width of at least 20 meters, and that the area for transporting goods and buses should not be less than 200 square meters per truck, and 24 square meters for each parking space in front of rental offices, and 15 square meters for each parking space inside car shelters.
Modernizing the specifications of warehouses and warehouses
The updates to the requirements for warehouses and warehouses included not less than 300 square meters, unlike the previous ones, which were not less than 2,000 square meters, and not less than eight meters in height without specifying the upper limit; while the updated requirements allow warehouses within cities provided that their area does not exceed 150 square meters; while the requirements for billboards and advertising included developments for technical and spatial requirements, which were previously limited to spatial, and specifying 29 types, as well as specifying the dimensions of the billboards and safe distances.
Eliminating the distance requirement between wedding venues
The technical requirements for wedding palaces and lounges included eliminating the requirement for a specific distance between wedding palaces (event halls), and defining categories for wedding palaces, including category «A» with 10 square meters per person, category «B» with 8 square meters per person, and wedding palaces and lounges must be on one commercial street. The updates also included a number of requirements for entertainment activities by including technical requirements, in addition to spatial requirements, and that they be on commercial streets, and that cinemas be on a commercial street.
All these requirements did not neglect to take into account the urban planning of the cities and centers of the Kingdom, as they were present in all the updated requirements, and took this into consideration.
