The Ministry of Housing, in collaboration with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, has allocated more than 80 million square meters of land across the Kingdom to build 500,000 residential units at a total cost of SR250 billion, in line with an order from King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. An official source said the ministry has received several plots of land from the regions' emirates. The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs will be issuing tenders for a number of projects. These are the nucleus of the huge housing project which will be carried out in stages. The ministry has already signed a contract for the implementation of the first stage covering 11 sites in Riyadh, Al-Kharj, Dammam, Al-Ahsa, Al-Qatif, Jeddah, Madina, Tabuk and Khamis Mushayt. A total of 35 housing projects have been awarded to contractors in various regions.