RIYADH/JEDDAH: The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance, is to dedicate half of the one billion riyals it was allocated in Friday's Royal Decrees to the Kingdom's 75,000 mosques. Tawfeeq Al-Sudairi, Deputy Minister of Islamic Affairs, said that half the sum would go on renovation work at mosques and 300 million to Call and Guidance offices, with the remaining SR200 million being divided between the 13 Qur'an Memorization Associations and their various branches. “The Royal Orders will be carried out immediately,” Al-Sudairi said.” Makkah land given for decree housing Osama Al-Bar, Mayor of Makkah, said Saturday that land in the city had already been passed over to the National Housing Commission to be used in the construction of the half a million housing units ordered by the Royal Decrees announced Friday. Al-Bar told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the mayoralty had handed over 4.3 million square meters of land in Makkah. “The Housing Commission is currently working to prepare sites for the housing of Saudi nationals in Jeddah,” he said. The decrees included an order for SR250 billion to be put towards the construction of 500,000 new housing units across the country.
