King Abdullah’s six glorious years of achievements

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who ascended the Saudi throne six year ago, has been described by political analysts as the Kingdom’s most popular king thanks to his political, social and economic reforms and his contributions toward the progress and prosperity of its people, especially youths. King Abdullah issued a series of decrees in the beginning of this year, announcing a number of social welfare projects worth more than SR600 billion. They included plans to construct 500,000 new housing units in different parts of the Kingdom, allocation of SR250 billion for the housing project, setting SR3,000 as minimum wage for Saudis, a two-month salary bonus for government workers and SR2,000 monthly unemployment allowance for Saudis. Highlighting King Abdullah’s achievements during the past six years, Abdullah Al-Asheikh, president of the 150-member Shoura Council, said: “They were six years of achievements. During this period, we have seen Saudi Arabia making tremendous progress in various sectors. The decrees issued by the king in February and March 2011 were aimed at boosting the welfare of all citizens.” The Shoura chief also noted the king’s directives to raise the real estate loan ceiling from SR300,000 to SR500,000 per applicant, take effective steps to solve unemployment among young Saudi men and women and formation of the National Commission to Combat Corruption as well as his efforts to fight increasing prices of essential commodities. “King Abdullah has given top priority to reforms and combating corruption,” he pointed out. Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, state minister and commander of the National Guard, congratulated King Abdullah on the sixth anniversary of his accession to the throne and commended the king’s role in steering the Kingdom to greater progress and prosperity while many other countries were facing political instability and economic difficulty. He described the king as a sincere leader and a loving father who regarded the nation as a single family. He said the recent royal decrees issued by the king proved that his development vision centers around citizens. Eastern Province Gov. Prince Muhammad bin Fahd said King Abdullah was able to strengthen the Kingdom’s security and stability through strategic planning and by carrying out giant educational, social and economic projects. Prince Fahd bin Sultan, governor of Tabuk, said Saudi Arabia is indebted to King Abdullah for its remarkable progress during the past decades. Commerce and Industry Minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza underscored King Abdullah’s qualities as a statesman and a world leader. He praised the king’s decision on agricultural investment in other countries to ensure food security for the Kingdom. King Abdullah has given top priority to the Kingdom’s educational and technological advancement and women’s empowerment. He recently inaugurated the new campus of Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University (PNU) in Riyadh, which was established at a cost of SR20 billion. "The new campus, covering eight million square meters, is considered the largest women-only university in the world," said Huda Al-Ameel, the newly appointed PNU president. She said the huge campus was completed in a record time of less than three years on the instructions of King Abdullah. "We are grateful to King Abdullah for this vital project, which will surely encourage PNU staff and students to exploit this state-of-the art facility to excel in education,” she said. King Abdullah took a series of decisions to strengthen Qur’an memorization centers and the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice as well as to renovate mosques all over the Kingdom. The package included SR300 million to support the Islamic Dawa offices and SR200 million to support Qur’an memorization organizations. He allocated SR16 billion to expand health facilities and construct new hospitals and increased loan limits to private hospitals from SR50 million to SR200 million. Saudis have praised the king’s recent decision to increase the capital of the Real Estate Development Fund, by adding SR40 billion, to provide more housing loans to Saudis. He also increased the capital of Saudi Credit Bank from SR10 billion to SR30 billion by allocating SR20 billion to provide soft loans. The number of family members benefiting from social insurance has been increased from eight to 15, the Saudi Press Agency said, adding that SR1 billion has been set aside for the purpose. King Abdullah allocated SR3.5 billion to help the poor repair their houses and pay electric and water bills and SR1.2 billion to conduct vocational training courses for women. King Abdullah also set up a high-level ministerial committee to find a quick solution for the employment of the growing number of graduates. The committee has been asked to present its report within two months. As part of the government’s efforts to fight unemployment, a part of the financial resources of the Human Resource Development Fund will be allocated to provide assistance to unemployed youth for a year. In the meantime, the General Organization for Social Insurance will set up a cooperative insurance program for the unemployed. King Abdullah’s generosity also covered charitable societies. He issued a decree increasing annual allocations for charitable organizations by 50 percent to reach SR450 million. Cooperative societies will also receive SR100 million annually while two projects of the National Charitable Fund will get SR100 million. He allocated SR476 million to support poor students and urged authorities to allocate a percentage of seats at universities for poor students. He extended the period of the King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Program for another five years and said Saudis studying abroad on their accounts would be included in the program on the basis of certain conditions. The king ordered payment of 15 percent of basic salary as inflation allowance to government employees. The staff of the General Auditing Bureau, Control and Investigation Board, Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution and the Royal Court will be increased by adding 300 employees each. The move was aimed at strengthening monitoring agencies. He allocated SR10 million to support literary clubs and ordered payment of SR10 million each to all "excellent sports clubs", SR5 million each to all "first class clubs" and SR2 million to all registered sports clubs. Specialized professional associations in the Kingdom will also receive SR10 million each. From Arab News