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Housing Construction
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Government support programs facilitate housing for all Saudis
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Another aspect of Saudi Arabia's social services is the provision of housing for the country's young and fast-growing population. The government has been active in financing construction and in building the infrastructure to enable housing development. Substantial housing has been built for low-income Saudis, public employees and students. During the Fifth Development Plan (1990-94), the government allocated 1.44 billion dollars to public housing across the country.
A particularly important government policy has been to provide interest-free, easy-term loans for home construction. For this purpose, the Real Estate Development Fund was established in 1975 to provide financing to individuals and private companies. From its inception through the beginning of 1993, it granted 27.06 billion dollars in loans, which financed 454,503 private housing units. It also provided 1.4 billion dollars to the private sector to build 28,987 housing units, 5,061 stores and 2,857 office buildings. In 1992, it furnished 6,270 loans valued at 392.1 million dollars for private homes.
One of the greatest benefits of Saudi Arabia's modern development is its ability to fulfill the Islamic obligation of caring for its citizens. Today, the Kingdom provides its citizens with high quality medical services and housing, cares for the multitudes of pilgrims who visit the holy cities, and ensures the safety and well-being of workers and their families. The Sixth Development Plan (1995-99) builds on the accomplishments of the past. It calls for greater efforts to further improve the quality of social welfare and health care services available to all Saudi citizens, expand national programs for the rehabilitation and welfare of the handicapped and immunize all children against infectious diseases .
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