RIYADH — The Council of Ministers on Monday approved two major regulations aimed at boosting the transport sector: merging railway and road transport bodies and making transportation in education sector more systemic and flawless. The weekly session of the Cabinet, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, approved the merger of the Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) with the Public Transport Authority (PTA), the Saudi Press Agency reported. Adel Al-Turaifi, minister of culture and information, said that the Council revoked the regulation to create SRO, issued in 2008 (1429H). It also made amendments in the PTA regulations so as to cover transportation of passengers and goods for charges through means of transport within the cities in the Kingdom and to foreign destinations under public transport. Air transport is exempted. Al-Turaifi said the Cabinet reviewed a minister of education report with regard to making transportation in the Kingdom's education sector more effective and systematic, and considered the recommendations of the permanent committee at the Council of Economic and Development Affairs in this respect. Accordingly, the Cabinet also created a specialist committee for transportation in the education sector. It is tasked with having coordination among the agencies concerned with the education transportation so as to make an effective system and ensure prompt implementation of the policies regulating the education transport together with the concerned executive agencies. The Cabinet urged the concerned executive agencies to take advantage of the Saed Hiring Program of the Ministry of Civil Service and the Authority for creating jobs and combating unemployment in Saudizing jobs in the education transportation sector. The Cabinet also directed starting the procedures to create a company to improve the education transport services with partial self-operation either through plying buses or through partnership with the private sector. The Council also entrusted the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs to frame appropriate urban policies to support education transport services, such as identifying the location of schools close to the residential arrears, developing pedestrian passages in residential districts so as facilitate students reach their schools smoothly, and implementing all the safety and security criteria in line with the regulations. Al-Turaifi said the Cabinet also decided to establish a regulatory unit called "National Urban Observatory" under the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs as the main authority to handle everything pertaining to urban monitoring in the Kingdom. The observatory will function as a general authority linked to the ministerial agency for urban planning. All the local urban observatories at the regional mayoralties will be technically linked to this observatory. The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs is tasked to make available all the administrative, employment and technical requirements of the observatory, in line with the Ministry of Finance rules.
