Unifying Government Efforts and Achieving Urban Development: Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs Signs Five Agreements with the Ministries of Justice and Housing, the Water and Electricity Companies, and the Communications and Information Technology Commission

In implementation of the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense - may God protect him, to expedite the implementation of the required urban development plans, and under the patronage of His Excellency the Acting Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs signed, today, Thursday, (5) agreements with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Housing, the Communications and Information Technology Commission, the Saudi Electricity Company, and the National Water Company, regarding the updated pathways and the determination and timing (governance) of all procedures for approving private residential subdivision plans within (60) days.

The agreements signed between the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, government entities and service companies aim to enhance cooperation by implementing the royal order regarding the approval of private residential subdivision plans within (60) days, and unifying efforts with the aim of accelerating urban development by speeding up the approval of residential subdivision plans, facilitating development procedures and the establishment of infrastructure for the plans, and achieving the principle of cooperation between government entities and public service companies and joint coordination between them.

The agreement signed between the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Justice included the adoption of a governance model for verifying ownership and proving real estate identity, comprising a general verification pathway that includes rules, standards and controls for verifying ownership, standards for proving real estate identity and rules for its authority, and a timeline for verifying real estate ownership at courts and notary offices with an average of 16 working days and a maximum of 26 days.

The agreement signed between the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Housing stipulated the stage of delivering the cost amount for implementing the plan's infrastructure, through steps and according to specific conditions and timelines through cooperation and coordination between the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Housing.

The agreement signed between the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Communications and Information Technology Commission included agreement on approving the detailed and executive plans for telephone network establishment works within (20) working days, and final acceptance of telephone network establishment works after completion of implementation by the relevant telecommunications company and notifying the municipality of this within (15) working days.

The agreement signed between the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the National Water Company included approving the detailed and executive plans for water and sanitation works within (20) working days, and stipulated final acceptance of water and sanitation works after completion of implementation by the National Water Company and notifying the municipality of this within (15) days.

The terms of the agreement signed between the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Saudi Electricity Company included approving the detailed and executive plans for electricity works within (20) working days, and final acceptance of electricity network works after completion of implementation by the Saudi Electricity Company and notifying the municipality of this within (5) days.

The agreement was signed on behalf of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs by the Ministry's Deputy Minister for Urban Planning, Dr. Abdulrahman bin Hassan Al Al-Sheikh, while on behalf of the other entities it was signed respectively by, for the Ministry of Justice, the Housing Minister's Advisor for the Real Estate Sector, Mohammed bin Saud Al-Ghazwani, the Commission's Deputy Governor for Technology and Infrastructure Sector, Eng. Majed bin Mohammed Al-Muzaid, the CEO of the National Water Company, Eng. Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Mawkali, and the CEO of the Saudi Electricity Company, Fahd bin Hussein Al-Sudairi.

These agreements come to activate the updated pathways, (which are three pathways including: initial approval and phased conveyance, initial and final approval before implementation, and initial and final approval with sale of all plots before implementation), and to achieve their objectives of encouraging investment in the real estate development sector, and proposing solutions that ensure the completion of infrastructure and provide the necessary flexibility for plan owners in conveyance and obtaining financing for their projects, in the interest of accelerating the steps and procedures for developers' plan approvals and addressing obstacles across all sectors.

The updated land subdivision plan approval mechanism achieves numerous gains for the business sector, most notably, creating alternatives for developing residential subdivision plans for owners and developers, giving developers and owners financing alternatives, flexibility in development alongside speed of approval, and facilitating and governing procedures, while the updated pathways also achieve gains for citizens represented in increasing the supply of residential land in developed subdivision plans.

The Ministries of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing had recently signed a memorandum of understanding, providing for the completion of all licensing works for plans by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs within 60 days. It aims to accelerate the steps for final approval of residential subdivision plans and complete their infrastructure and shorten many procedures. It also aims to encourage developers and address the obstacles they face, while providing the necessary flexibility for plan owners in conveyance.

It is worth noting that licensing procedures for residential subdivision plans previously took two years, and in some cases took periods exceeding that.