Newly constructed residential buildings in Riyadh.

The Shoura Council has asked the Ministry of Housing to present its time and developmental plans to provide housing products to citizens.

Chaired by Speaker Abdullah Al-Ashiekh, the Shoura Council also asked the ministry to coordinate with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs to prepare developmental designs to raise population density in major cities where there is not enough land for housing projects.

In this context, the council called on the Ministry of Housing to speed up the lending process to those who wish to purchase housing units from private sector firms and, hence, support the lending budget from the allocated funds, Assistant Speaker Yahya Al-Samaan told reporters after the council’s 53rd ordinary session.

The council’s remarks came after deliberations on a report presented by the Committee of Haj, Housing and Services based on the annual report of the Ministry of Housing for the fiscal year 1434/1435.

However, the council rejected a recommendation calling on the Ministry of Housing to enter into partnerships with government bodies for provision of suitable housing units to their employees.

The Committee of Haj, Housing and Services has already rejected the proposal on the ground that the current approach to the unification of housing support includes all categories of the community based on fair and transparent eligibility is more practical than the said proposal.

The rejection also came due to the fact that government agencies originally provide housing units to their employees as long as they work with the concerned agencies and, therefore, provision of housing on an ownership basis would be costly and requires vast areas and big budgets.

Later, the council listened to a report presented by the Health Committee on the annual report of the Saudi Red Crescent Authority in which the committee asked the auhtority to finalize the regulatory system of its ambulance services and adopt international standards in this regard.