In accordance with the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, and Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard, Royal Decree number 7/b/6629, dated 7/5/1420 AH, was issued to establish a Ministerial Committee under the Chairmanship of Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Premier, Minister of Defence and Aviation and Inspector General, comprising a number of princes and ministers.
The above Decree had the aim of improving services extended to citizens in various sectors by improving the performance of government bodies, scrutinizing administrative structures of the state’s institutions, and reducing the administrative expenditure.
Under the leadership of Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard, the Ministerial Committee has conducted comprehensive studies to accomplish the above objectives, and has made the following recommendations, which have been approved by the King:
The activities of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing have been terminated and its responsibilities transferred to the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and other relevant government bodies
The responsibilities of the Ministry of Public Housing have been assigned to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and housing strategies to the Ministry of Economy and Planning
The Real Estate Fund will receive further support to enhance its role.
A new name will be adopted for the Ministry of Education, in both Arabic and English.
The Minister of Education will have two deputies, one for boys’ and one for girls’ education, and two budgets for the same.
In order to unify public education, the Ministry of Education, will take over the educational activities of the National Guard, Ministry of Defence and Aviation, and the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu.
Universities will be granted greater independence, and university councils and directors will be given greater authority.
The Ministry of Information will be renamed the Ministry of Culture and Information. The new Ministry will have an agency for culture, and will take responsibility for the activities of the following bodies, which are currently affiliates of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare: King Fahd Cultural Centre; The Administration of Folklore; The Saudi Society for Culture and Arts; The General Administration of Cultural Activities; The Literary Clubs, and the General Administration for Literary Clubs. It will also oversee the activities of: The General Administration for Public Libraries, and The General Administration for Cultural Relations, which are currently affiliates of the Agency of Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Education; Al-Mujallah Al-Arabia, which is currently an affiliate of the Ministry of Higher Education.
Saudi radio and television, and the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) will become two public establishments. The Minister of Culture and Information will chair their Boards of Directors.
The activities of the Supreme Council for Sciences, Arts and Literature, the Supreme Council for Youth and the Supreme Information Council will be terminated, since the ends for which they were established have been achieved.
The Authority of Antiquities, which is currently an affiliate of the Ministry of Education, will be annexed to the Higher Tourism Commission, which will be responsible for antiquities in addition to tourism.
The General Presidency for Youth Welfare will remain responsible for sports activities
The activities of the Ministry of Industry and Electricity will be transferred to the Ministry of Water, which will be named the Ministry of Water and Electricity, due to the correlation of activities of theses two sectors, notably the generation of electricity by desalination stations.
Industrial works and activities will be transferred from the Ministry of Industry and Electricity to the Ministry of Commerce, whose name will be amended to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Due to the close relationship between economic affairs and planning, economic activities will be transferred from the Ministry of Finance and National Economy to the Ministry of Planning, which will be renamed the Ministry of Economy and Planning. The Ministry of Finance and National Economy will be renamed the Ministry of Finance.
The Ministry of Communications will become the Ministry of Transport.
The Minister of Transport will be Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ports Authority. The President of the Ports Authority will be appointed to the rank of His Excellency.
The Ministry of Posts, Telegrams and Telephones will be renamed the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology.
Information Technology related activities will be assigned to the Telecommunications Commission, the name of which will be changed to Telecommunications and Information Technology Commission. The Commission will oversee activities related to telecommunications and information technology
The Ministerial Committee for Administrative Organization will be responsible for overseeing all structural changes and developments, in accordance with the above directives, and will conduct further organizational studies pertaining to other sectors.
Source: SPA
