Fahd Bin Jaleid Al-Jazirah The Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) has been successful in serving both the nation and citizens through its historic recommendation to impose a tax on undeveloped land and then presenting its proposal to the Council of Ministers. Eventually, the Cabinet accepted the recommendation and tasked the CEDA to prepare a mechanism for it. Here, public interest prevails over the vested interests of real estate developers, many of whom sought to monopolize vacant plots of land. By taxing undeveloped land, the CEDA will help a large number of Saudi citizens realize their dreams of one day owning their own home. Of course, future generations will remember that the issue has been settled in a way that fulfills the dreams of Saudis who do not own a home in a fair and equitable manner. This is more significant in the wake of the Kingdom's housing shortage and is a major reform initiated by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman. We deserve to celebrate this historic economic decision mainly on two counts. Firstly, its positive impact in stabilizing real estate prices, ending the monopoly of real estate traders, achieving a balance in demand and supply in a way that serves the interests of the nation and people, and helping to boost the economic and development booms being witnessed in the Kingdom. Secondly, this shows the dynamic and effective intervention of the CEDA in addressing one of the most pressing issues affecting citizens immediately after its formation. We started experiencing the positive impact of this after the CEDA swung into action to resolve the housing issue in line with the directives of King Salman. It was beyond the expectations of everyone that the Council would come out with such a decisive and historic decision in such a quick and swift way, especially since the issue had courted so much controversy in the past. The new decision showed that CEDA is a very active and dynamic apex body that is keen to serve the broad interests of the nation and people. On behalf of every youth and anyone else out there who still dreams of owning a house or at least a plot of land, I thank King Salman, the Council of Ministers and CEDA for this historic decision.
