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In the presence of a number of their Highnesses and Excellencies, ministers, princes of regions and provinces, and senior officials, His Excellency the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, Mr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, inaugurated today the Municipal Investment Forum, “Foras”, in its second edition, which will last until Thursday, January 26, 2023, in the facade of Riyadh. For exhibitions and conferences. His Excellency the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, Mr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, announced the issuance of the kind approval to approve the municipal investment portal “Foras”, to be a unified national portal for offering real estate investment opportunities to government agencies, under the name: (Investment Portal in Saudi Cities - Opportunities). In addition to cooperation and integration with the Invest in Saudi Arabia platform, indicating that today (Foras) was launched as a national platform. Al-Hogail explained, during the opening speech, that municipal investments contribute to achieving the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 by improving the quality of city services, improving the urban landscape, developing and diversifying recreational opportunities, and municipal investments allow state-owned assets for the private sector, developing the activities of other sectors, and increasing the contributions of establishments. small and medium. He added, "Municipal investments are related to 5 of the Vision's programs, which are (privatization, housing, quality of life, serving the guests of Rahman, financial sustainability), and that municipal investment improves the investment system in 3 main axes (legislative axis to raise investment maturity, axis of development supporting products, procedural and marketing axis). Al-Hogail stressed that the ministry worked to fully automate the procedures and the investor’s journey, starting from presenting the opportunity to purchasing the brochure and submitting bids, through the formation of the committees held to awarding the opportunity, signing the contract and handing over the site through a unified platform, indicating that a regulation for the disposal of municipal real estate was issued, to be the framework The regulation also allows for the temporary leasing of real estate, where the investor can rent public parks or squares to hold events or events for a period of up to 3 months. The Ministry is working on developing a number of products continuously with the secretariats and municipalities, the most prominent of which is "Working with government funding funds, partnership with the private sector", and the Ministry is working to allocate 70% of municipal services by 2030. On the sidelines of the ceremony, His Excellency the Minister of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing signed 3 agreements, the first is the signing of the executive program for bilateral cooperation between the ministry and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of the Republic of South Korea, and the second is the agreement on controls for linking between the investment portal in Saudi cities, Foras and the invest in Saudi portal with the Ministry of Investment, and the third An agreement to use the investment portal in Saudi cities is an opportunity for opportunities offered by the Ministry of Transport and Logistics. The forum includes offering more than 5,000 investment opportunities, suitable for all segments of investors, including entrepreneurs, owners of small and medium enterprises, and large investors in various economic activities in all Saudi cities. The forum also includes the organization of an accompanying exhibition that brings together more than 60 entities, including opportunity owners, enabling financing entities, organizing and supporting government agencies, and a number of pioneering programs and projects. It also includes many accompanying events, represented in more than 25 dialogue sessions, and more than 50 specialized workshops discussing issues related to raising the attractiveness of investment in cities, in which more than 100 speakers from officials, experts and specialists speak. On the other hand, the State of Qatar participates as the "guest country" in the forum, as it reviews the experience of the Ministry of Municipality and its successful participation in organizing the World Cup, the role of the private sector and investment opportunities in developing cities, infrastructure and the quality of life of the population. The forum aims to raise the attractiveness of investment in Saudi cities, stimulate local investments and attract foreign investments that will reflect on raising the private sector’s contribution to the development of cities and the development of domestic product, and contribute to enabling sectoral and regional strategies, and introduce municipal investment mechanisms.

Silver level for the ministries category Al-Hogail receives the King Abdulaziz Quality Award for the year 2022 Under the generous patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz - may God protect him - and in the presence of the Governor of Riyadh, His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, His Excellency the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, Mr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, received the King Abdulaziz Award for Quality on the occasion of the Ministry’s victory for the Ministries category at the silver level for the year 2022, as part of the activities of the award ceremony and the accompanying forum, which was held this evening at the JW Marriott Riyadh Hotel in Riyadh. The Ministry participated in an interactive pavilion in the activities of the Sixth Forum for Best Practices in Quality and Excellence accompanying the ceremony honoring the award-winning establishments, through which it presented visual presentations that included an overview of the Ministry, in addition to reviewing the experience of participating in the award in general from the organizational point of view and its impact on the internal work teams. The General Supervisor of the Agency for Organizational Development and Human Resources, Nahar Al-Sheikh, reviewed the best practices in the field of the standard of administrative leadership and the results of the standard, and the most prominent practices about the “sakani” and “baladi” platforms and the “opportunities” portal, as well as presenting the most prominent lessons learned from participation in the award . The number of participants from the various sectors of the ministry in the journey to participate in the award reached 35 partners for success, who had a positive role in winning the ministry in the silver category at the level of ministries. Institutional excellence, and the positive development of institutional performance at the ministry level. Winning the award also contributed to raising the confidence and capabilities of employees and motivating them to achieve greater achievements on the personal and professional levels. The forum - which is a real opportunity to highlight pioneering national experiences and practices in the field of quality and to learn about the best modern methods and methods - seeks to spread the culture of institutional excellence and quality in all sectors and fields of work, develop work environments in various sectors, and develop administrative and organizational capabilities in a way that enhances and contributes to increasing Productivity. The King Abdulaziz Award for Quality aims to raise the level of quality, efficiency and productivity in various sectors in the Kingdom.

With the aim of strengthening partnership with the private sector "Municipality and Housing" launches the second version of the "Transformation and Empowerment" programs The Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing, represented by the Agency for Stimulating Housing Supply and Real Estate Development, launched the second phase of the “Transformation and Empowerment” programs. The program aims to upgrade the real estate development industry, increase the housing supply, and strengthen partnership with the private sector in the Kingdom by increasing the number of qualified real estate developers. This contributes to increasing the offered housing units, improving their quality, and achieving a better quality of life for the citizen. The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing for stimulating the housing supply and real estate development, Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah Al-Taweel, explained that the “transformation and empowerment” programs were designed to support private sector companies, including contractors and real estate developers, by transferring contractors who wish to move from the contracting sector to the real estate development sector by providing support services. And the necessary guidance to enter and work in the real estate development sector, in addition to supporting and empowering real estate developers, and developing their capabilities to improve performance, by providing possible facilities and services and providing capabilities and tools to facilitate the journey of real estate developers. Al-Taweel pointed out that the “transformation and empowerment” programs come within the framework of the unlimited support and the great effort made by the Agency to stimulate the housing supply and real estate development to upgrade the real estate development industry in the Kingdom by providing support, assistance, training and qualification services for the sector’s employees, pointing out that the contractors and real estate developers participating in “Transformation and Empowerment” programs, and with the support of success partners, they will get a number of privileges, including obtaining a real estate developer qualification certificate, providing guarantees through the “Kafala” program for financing agencies, and obtaining support from the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises “Monshaat” through the “Monshaat” program Jadeer”, in addition to accreditation from the National Housing Company (NHC), and obtaining a certificate of qualifying real estate developers for off-plan sales projects from the “Wafi” program. It is noteworthy that the program in its first edition witnessed the joining of a large number of national companies to the program, the most important of which are Tamam Real Estate, Shahqa Real Estate and Safa Investment. For investment, in addition to that, a number of companies participating in the program obtained financing through the guarantee program, among these companies are Shahla International Company and Emaar Real Estate Development Company. It is possible to register in the second version of the program to support and enable developers by visiting the link https://survey.housing.sa/survey/2617. It is also possible to register in the program for converting contractors into real estate developers by visiting the link https://survey.housing.sa /survey/2618

The Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing revealed its initiative to increase the facilities classified to 70% within its work in the Coordinating Committee for the Development of the Contracting Sector, with the aim of raising competitiveness on governance standards between enterprises. The initiative aims to develop the work of contractors from individual businesses to institutional work, by updating the technical classification criteria for establishments, so that the governance ratio becomes one of the criteria for technical evaluation of establishments. In order to ensure the competition of enterprises to raise the percentage of governance in order to raise the degree of classification; This is reflected in raising the average percentage of corporate governance in terms of "financial statements; compliance levels; risk management and quality" from 44.6% to 70%. The initiative also aims to raise the level of competitiveness by creating greater diversity, by increasing the number of classifiers at the level of the regions of the Kingdom, which reached more than 14,000 establishments classified according to corporate governance standards, so that the beneficiaries find business executors with a high ability to provide products with high reliability in business accuracy. and its quality. Since its launch, the initiative has contributed to raising the percentage of classified establishments in Jizan to 156%, Al-Jawf to 139%, Al-Baha to 136%, Asir to 111%, Tabuk to 98%, Medina to 83%, Al-Qassim to 76%, Northern Borders to 39%, and Hail to 30%. It is noteworthy that the Coordinating Committee for the Development of the Contracting Sector, headed by His Excellency Minister Majid Al-Hogail; It includes the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, the Ministry of Investment, the Ministry of Economy and Planning, the Authority for Spending Efficiency and Government Projects, the Saudi Contractors Authority, and the Saudi Council of Engineers; Its mechanism of action aims to lay the foundations for the development of the contracting sector to be a sustainable economic tributary in the national domestic product. and has the attractiveness to invest in; By establishing governance that improves business quality and increases performance efficiency.

According to which the fund provides in-kind support amounting to 30 million riyals The Municipality and Housing and the SABIC Employees Charity Fund sign an agreement to support developmental housing The Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing, represented by the Agency for Stimulating Housing Supply and Real Estate Development, has concluded an agreement with the Sabic Employees Charitable Fund Foundation “BR” affiliated to Sabic Steel Company, according to which the fund provides support for developmental housing projects, under the auspices of His Excellency the Deputy Minister of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing Eng. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Badir, and the presence of the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing for the Agency for Stimulating Housing Supply and Real Estate Development, Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah Al-Taweel. The agreement, whose ceremonies took place in Riyadh today, was signed by Eng. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Dakhil, General Supervisor of Developmental Housing Works at the Real Estate Development Agency, while Mubarak bin Abdullah Al-Haddaf, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees, signed on behalf of Ber. Under the agreement, the SABIC Employees Charitable Fund Foundation “Br” provides in-kind support of reinforcing steel for the development housing projects of the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing, with a total value of 30 million riyals during the years 2023-2025, equivalent to 10 million riyals annually. In turn, the General Supervisor of Developmental Housing Works at the Real Estate Development Agency praised the role played by the SABIC Employees Charitable Fund Foundation “Bir” in supporting charitable and righteous deeds, indicating that the support provided by the Foundation will be employed in the interest of developmental housing projects, which provides housing for the most needy families in society from among those covered Sponsored by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development "Social Security". Al-Dakhil explained that the Ministry, represented by developmental housing, has signed many agreements with governmental and private agencies, non-profit sectors, and volunteer individuals, as part of the third sector initiatives in the Ministry's programs. Partnerships have also been concluded with nearly 300 civil associations spread across all cities and governorates of the Kingdom, to assume tasks. It is to communicate and visit families and assist them in determining the appropriate housing for them, and to follow up on the delivery, management and operation of housing units.

The Future of Real Estate Forum - in its second edition - to be held during the period from January 23 to 25, 2023 in the city of Riyadh, will discuss a number of axes and goals related to the present and future of the real estate sector and the continuous efforts to attract real estate investments. About 30 countries will participate in this edition, most notably Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman. And Kuwait, the Emirates, Egypt, Britain and France, under the auspices of His Excellency Mr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, Minister of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing. One of the forum's sessions will discuss "The Future of Real Estate Investment" and the basic foundations that have made the real estate sector in the Kingdom attractive for investments. A group of local and international speakers will participate in this session, discussing the importance of attracting real estate investments to the Kingdom. The speakers will discuss the most important factors motivating attracting local and foreign real estate investment, the Kingdom's efforts in this regard, and the role of private sector projects in partnership with the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing in pumping hundreds of thousands of high-quality residential units and suburbs, which aim to raise the percentage of ownership to 70% in line with the objectives of The Kingdom's Vision 2030, which contributes to building an attractive competitive environment that enhances the quality of services and stimulates dealers with the real estate sector. Participants in the session will also discuss the services provided by the authorities related to the real estate sector in the Kingdom, including the electronic services and facilities provided by the General Real Estate Authority to workers and investors in this sector, through the real estate indicators platform, the geospatial real estate portal, and the Saudi Center for Real Estate Arbitration, which help To streamline real estate activities and facilitate investment procedures. Several pillars contribute to attracting real estate investments to the Kingdom, including the infrastructure that plays an important role in creating a climate to attract real estate investments to the Kingdom, in addition to the initiatives, strategies and giant projects launched by the Kingdom's government, most notably the comprehensive strategy for the real estate sector, which is based on the governance of the real estate sector and the sustainability of the sector. In addition to the effectiveness of the market, and partner service. The Quality of Life program is also one of the factors that attract foreign and local real estate investment, as the program aims to improve the quality of life for all residents of the Kingdom, by developing the necessary environment and creating more cultural, recreational, sports, tourism and urban activities with the participation of citizens, residents and visitors. The system of legislative systems and executive regulations in the Kingdom plays a major and influential role in attracting real estate investments, as it works to regulate the business and activities of the real estate sector and investment in it, in a tight manner, and preserves the rights of all parties, and the most prominent of these systems are the real estate ownership system, the real estate brokerage system, the ownership system Foreigners to invest in real estate, which in turn contributes to stimulating real estate growth, attracting Saudi and non-Saudi investors, and attracting capital to establish qualitatively feasible real estate projects. His Excellency the Minister of Housing and Urban Planning of the Sultanate of Oman, Dr. Khalfan Al-Shuaili, will participate in the second edition of the forum, who confirmed that the convening of the Future Real Estate Forum, which is being hosted by Riyadh in its second edition, comes at a time when the real estate sector is witnessing exponential growth and qualitative transformations in various Gulf countries and the region, as well as Its investments are witnessing a significant growth, as this sector is a strategic choice to diversify the portfolios of a large group of companies and real estate entities.” His Excellency stressed that the real estate sector is one of the most important and prominent tributaries of the gross domestic product of a large number of countries in the world. For his part, His Excellency the Chairman and Managing Director of the Administrative Capital Company for Urban Development in the sister Republic of Egypt, Engineer Khaled Mahmoud Abbas, said that the forum is one of the prominent platforms in dealing with the future of real estate since its first edition was held during the past year, adding that the importance of the forum is represented in its discussion of the challenges that The real estate sector system faces it, and how to develop its mechanisms and practices, indicating that the sector has contributed to providing thousands of job opportunities for young people. It is noteworthy that the Forum for the Future of Real Estate targets several entities, entities and organizations, from inside and outside the Kingdom, most notably in the government sectors related to real estate activity, as well as local and international specialized organizations and associations, construction and development companies, specialized research and digital companies, banks, finance companies, investment funds, and the Federation of Saudi chambers and real estate committees in the Kingdom, and agencies related to real estate financing locally and abroad.

The digital city platform (Baladi) participated in the Maskan real estate exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs under the auspices of His Excellency the Minister, Mr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, in the city of Riyadh, at (Riyadh Interface for Organizing Exhibitions), which was held over a period of 4 days from May 26 to May 29, 2022 AD . The digital services system was introduced and visitors' inquiries related to the construction and real estate sectors were answered. The exhibition was given the opportunity to sponsor 21 entities and investors, with the participation of 60 entities from real estate developers and real estate companies, and 11 financing channels, to display various residential products. A large number of real estate agencies contributed by offering a diverse number of housing units, and the most prominent financing agencies were present during the exhibition, in order to facilitate the process of ownership and selection of suitable housing for the Saudi citizen.

Support from the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing for owners of commercial establishments; The service of updating commercial licenses was made available through the “Baladi” platform for a temporary period until the date of 08/11/2022, and the owner of the establishment is allowed to apply for the service once for each commercial license from the beginning of the campaign launch, even if there is an expired previous application, and updating some licenses may require fees. service; This is based on the difference between the license data and the data attached to the update request, and it will be estimated electronically through the fee calculator on the “Baladi” platform, knowing that the facility may be visited by a representative of the municipality.

Support from the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing for construction sector clients; The service of issuing the “certificate of occupancy” has been made available through the “Baladi” platform, which confirms the actual completion of the construction stages, where the customer can follow up on the request for issuing the certificate via text messages and e-mail, and to benefit from the service, a technical report from the engineering office is required, and it is also required not to There is a violation of the building, while a contract must be made with an engineering office for non-residential buildings.

His Excellency the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing met Mr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail; Minister of Environment and Energy Kostas Skrekas, Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Georgiadis, and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport of the Hellenic Republic (Greece) Kostas Karamanlis, in the presence of the Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in Athens, Dr. Saad bin Abdul Rahman Al Ammar; Within His Excellency's visit to Greece. The Minister of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing praised the increase in the pace of rapprochement between the two countries. Pointing out that his visit to Greece today is an extension of the visit of His Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last July, and a continuation of the efforts being implemented to build a system of relations that meets the aspirations of the peoples of the two friendly countries. In all fields, including the urban development sector; Especially since the ministry plays a major role in providing most of the city services in the Kingdom. During his meeting with the Greek ministers, Al-Hogail discussed areas of common work. In programs and activities of waste management and redevelopment, humanization of cities, urban planning, investment, real estate development, in addition to the areas of infrastructure, construction technology and flood drainage, and the possibility of exchanging experiences and transferring knowledge and its applications; His Excellency also presented a model of urban planning and design guidelines in the Kingdom, and was briefed on one of the housing programs being implemented in Greece. His Excellency also met with the Mayor of Athens, Mr. Konstantinos Bakoyannis, and the two sides discussed the experience of humanizing cities in the two countries, and the vision adopted in providing city services, as well as the experience of city administration in Greece. Within the agenda of the first day of the visit; The Minister of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing met with a delegation from the CCC company specialized in the field of construction and infrastructure, and listened to an introductory presentation about the company and its most prominent projects in the Middle East, and discussed ways of cooperation with it in this field.

With the aim of enabling customers to obtain self-support for commercial license services; The Ministry has launched a series of support services for licensing through the digital platform “Baladi”, through which it aims to provide digital solutions to customers that contribute to facilitating their access to municipal services and the exercise of their commercial activities with greater flexibility without delay in submitting applications. Support services for commercial licenses include the following: service of objection to non-transfer of ownership of a commercial license, approval of adding an old license, objection to suspension of a license after subsequent control, in addition to objection to cancellation of a commercial license, and all support services provided through the “Baladi” platform are free of charge. And it can be used without the need to review the secretariats or municipalities. It should be noted that there are guides that enable customers to learn how to benefit from support services, and they can be accessed through the Baladi portal.