Kingdom’s Council for Economic Development to spend $35bn on Saudi lifestyles by 2020

Arab News
May 4, 2018

Jeddah, May 4: The Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) has launched the Quality of Life Program 2020, one of the Vision Realization Programs 2030 approved by the Council of Ministers.

The implementation plan for the program reflects the vision of the government of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to prepare the environment to improve individuals and families’ lifestyle.

It will also enhance participation in cultural, entertainment, sports and other activities that contribute to the quality of life and to job creation, as well as encourage investment opportunities and diversification of economic activities, while enhancing the status of Saudi cities in the ranking of the best cities in the world.

Total expenditure will be SR130 billion ($34.6 billion), of which SR74.5 billion is total direct investment in the program.

Government capital expenditure is more than SR50 billion until 2020, and investments available to the private sector are around SR23.7 billion.

This does not include all forms of capital expenditure in major projects such as the Qiddiya project, the Red Sea project, Al-Dariyah Gate project, Historical Jeddah project, and the Royal Commission for Al-Ula, in addition to all related projects of the private sector, with total investments exceeding SR86 billion.

The program aims to achieve non-oil GDP growth in the related sectors 0f 20 percent a year until 2020, and the contribution of local content by 67 percent until 2020.

The program indicators within macroeconomic measures include creating more than 346,000 jobs and generating non-oil revenues of SR1.9 billion.

The overarching goal is to have at least three Saudi cities included in the list of the top 100 cities in the world to live in by 2030. While the overall aspiration refers to three cities in the Kingdom, the program aims for the improvement of the lifestyle of citizens and residents throughout Saudi Arabia.

Quality of Life 2020 aspires to provide economic and investment opportunities for sustainable growth and development. Creative industries have proved to be key drivers of economic growth around the world.

 A number of funding models will be developed to stimulate the private sector to invest in both capital expenditures and operating expenses.

The program uses educational institutions and sports clubs to promote sports activities in the community by diversifying activities and facilitating access to sports services. This is in addition to upgrading the infrastructure available for sporting activities.

The program aims to provide 492 suitable places for sport as well as increasing the use of sports facilities from 8 percent to 55 percent. It also aims to contribute to the distinction of Saudi sport globally, by preparing a number of elite athletes in the Kingdom and improving their performance to participate effectively in the Olympic Games.

The program promotes the athletic participation of girls at school. It aims to have 325,000 girls taking part in physical education classes, training 7,500 teachers and providing 1,500 schools with gyms.

The program also promotes the Kingdom’s contribution to arts and culture through the elevation and development of cultural and artistic fields (visual arts, performing arts, filmmaking, poetry, design and national heritage) by focusing on refining the talents of artists and amateurs, increasing and improving the quality of domestic production and enhancing the Kingdom’s international presence in the arts and culture.

The program also aims to establish an island for arts and culture in Jeddah, including 45 cinemas, 16 theaters and 42 libraries, and the Royal Arts Complex in Riyadh by 2020 to promote the arts and culture sector in Kingdom.

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News Network
November 15,2024

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Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has killed or captured 69 terrorists linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad during a major counterterrorism drill in the country's southeast, its spokesman says.  

General Ahmad Shafaei, the spokesman for the “Martyrs of Security” drill, said Friday that a total of 23 terrorists have been killed and another 46 arrested in various clean-up operations ever since the IRGC Ground Force launched it in the Sistan and Baluchestan province on November 1.

Seven terrorists have also turned themselves in during the period.

“The undeniable fact about terrorists is that they rely on arrogant powers, particularly the intelligence service of the wicked and vicious Zionist regime," Shafaei said.

“Unfortunately, weapons and munitions at terrorists’ disposal are among the most sophisticated ones in the world. This accounts for their heavy dependence.” 

The official stated that several members of the disbanded terror teams were non-Iranian nationals, who had been hired by foreign intelligence agencies to carry out acts of sabotage and terror inside Iran.

In a most recent operation, six terrorists were arrested and four others were eliminated, three of whom were non-Iranians, he added. 

On October 26, ten members of Iran's law enforcement forces were killed in a terrorist attack in the Gohar Kuh district of Taftan in the Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The so-called Jaish al-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault, which was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months.

The group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in Iran, primarily in Sistan and Baluchestan.

Its tactics include the abduction of border guards as well as targeting civilians and police stations within the province to incite chaos and disorder.

In January, Iran launched a military operation during which the headquarters of the Pakistan-based terrorist group was targeted in missile strikes, destroying its infrastructure.

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News Network
November 10,2024

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The media office in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli regime has been waging a genocidal war since last October, says as many as 188 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the onset of the brutal military onslaught.

The office provided the figure on Saturday, naming four journalists as the most recent victims of the onslaught.

It identified the foursome as Zahraa Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Ahmad Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Mustafa Khadr Bahar, and Abdel Rahman Khadr Bahar.

The office said it “strongly condemns the targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation and holds it fully responsible for committing this heinous crime.”

“We call on the international community, international organizations, and those involved in journalistic work worldwide to take action against the occupation, pursue it in international courts for its ongoing crimes, and pressure it to halt the genocide and the targeted killings of Palestinian journalists,” it said.

Earlier in the day, the office said the Israeli regime had bombed the tents sheltering journalists and displaced persons at the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza for the ninth consecutive time.

The atrocity that claimed the lives of two people and injured 26 others came as part of “the genocidal crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army against hospitals, civilians, and displaced persons,” it said.

The media office held the regime and the United States, its biggest ally, as well as other countries aiding the genocide fully responsible for such systematic crimes.

At least 43,552 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 102,765 others wounded since the launch of the war that followed a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance groups.

The fatalities include 44 people, who were killed across the coastal sliver, in the most recent phase of the military onslaught.

As many as 24 of the victims were killed in the northern part of the territory, where the regime has markedly intensified its deadly attacks for weeks.

They included an eight-year-old child and a five-year-old one, who lost their lives after Israeli warplanes targeted a group of minors filling up jerry cans with water alongside their mother at the Jabalia Refugee camp.

Gaza’s heath ministry, meanwhile, said a number of victims remained under the rubble and in the streets following Israeli airstrikes, saying ambulances and civil defense teams could not reach them due to the sheer extent of the destruction caused by the raids and obstruction caused by the regime.

Also on Saturday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, a United Nations-backed assessment, warned that famine was looming in northern Gaza amid escalated Israeli aggression and the regime’s near-total siege of the targeted areas.

The alert from the Famine Review Committee warned of "an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine occurring, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip."

On October 17, the body projected that the number of people in Gaza facing "catastrophic" food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 345,000, or 16 percent of the population.

The IPC report classified that figure as Phase 5 -- a situation when "starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident."

The Israeli military, however, questioned the report's credibility.

"To date, all assessments by the IPC have proven incorrect and inconsistent with the situation on the ground," the army said in a statement, denouncing "partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests."

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