Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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municipalities, 43 village clusters and the provision of water and sewer services (in cities of
17,000 inhabitants or more). The MOMRA's Deputy of Town Planning (DTP) was
charged with the task of conducting studies related to urban growth and management
issues, drafting comprehensive regional and city master plans for the various cities, towns
and regions. The total outlays of MOMRA during the first three five-year Development
Plans (1970-85) amounted to SR 174 billion.
Nevertheless, during the early decades of the Kingdom (1930-1950), the
government's input and intervention remained characterized by a virtual lack of locally
developed traditions of government-led urban planning and dearth of financial resources.
The early efforts were essentially sectorial, limited to monitoring city growth and building
activity, especially in the overcrowded cities' cores (early demolishing took place around
the Holy Mosques of Makkah and Madinah, and the Governor's Palace in Riyadh) which
were faced with an onslaught of city-ward migration, proliferation of state organizations
and functions, and the increasing introduction of technology, that is the ubiquitous
automobile. By the 1950s, the automobile had become a primary factor in determining the
landscape of the metropolis. The process of issuing a new regulation resulted from the
need to counter certain problems at a certain locality. This prompted the need for
intervention: a recommendation to a problem must first be sanctioned by the pertaining
ministry at the capital, whose staff, depending on the nature of the problem, may obtain a
royal approval from the Council of Ministers. Prior to the development of fully grown
specialized ministries, the municipality was responsible for various town services, such as
health, road grading and water provision. The police power, however, laid in the Emir's
(governor) puryiew, who, like the municipalities, performed under the Ministry of Interior.
Municipalities implemented numerous eclectic resolutions and ordinances ordained by the
central government. The accumulation of such experience has had a mixed result on the
course of urban development. On the one hand, the accumulated experience meant sharing
useful information. On the other hand, an experience that might have proven practical in
one locality may as well become a binding requirement for subsequent development for all
areas of the country. Procedures to repeal legislation that is not pertinent for some localities
do exist but usually take tremendous effort and require a long time.