The Najran region, in the southwest of the Kingdom, is making great strides in its development, including a new 500-bed medical city, said Prince Misha'l Bin Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, the Emir of Najran. The medical city will eliminate the need for citizens of the region to travel to specialist hospitals across the country for treatment, the prince said in an exclusive telephone interview. “The issue has already been discussed with the Minister of Health to provide the medical city with well-qualified staff and services to gain the trust of the public,” he said. And the medical city for the prince is just one drop in the bucket of the development of the region. The expansion of the Najran Regional Airport including new runways will be finished within two months to allow the airport to receive more national air traffic, he said, adding that he hoped the airport would be able to receive international flights in the future. The Emir, who is also the son of the King, was appointed in his position about one year ago. He holds a Master's degree in political science. “When it comes to work, the King treats me like a citizen and an employee who serves his countrymen. All the projects we request for the region go through proper official channels from bidding to approval as specified in development plans. There is no exception made for me,” he said. “The King and Crown Prince provide equal treatment for all the Kingdom's regions,” he added. As Emir of the region, the prince's job is to develop the region in collaboration with government decisions that are made for the service of the region's sons who love and appreciate the leadership of the country, he said. “What binds me with the region is the mutual love and respect of its people,” he added. The vital projects across the region's seven governorates are fairly distributed based on population density, date of project application from the governorate, and of course, availability of funds, he explained. Najran is a tourist destination because of its historic sites, the prince said, referring to agreements with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) to start work on promoting tourism investment and preserving antiquities and architectural heritage in the region. Prince Sultan Bin Salman, President of SCTA, has reportedly said that the Najran region is home to generous people, diverse environments and cultural heritage derived from its desert, farms and urban heritage. “Its important cultural and archeological sites are what has made it a prosperous tourism area. Tourism activity in the province is expected to create an economic boom as well as provide job opportunities for local residents,” Prince Sultan said. According to media reports, SCTA is working to put some of the historic sites in the Najran region on the heritage list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Tourists to Najran are usually taken on sightseeing tours with knowledgeable local guides to the ancient ruins of Al-Okhdood (the Najran Canyon), site of the old city of Najran. Last year, visitors to the historic city of Al-Okhdood and the Najran Museum for Relics and Heritage numbered more than 51,000 with foreigners making up 9,000 or 20 percent of all visitors. Despite its desert climate, the Najran region has benefitted from a large scale tree-planting program, creating parks in the city of Najran itself and in the surrounding area. Najran is also the home of the largest water dam in the Kingdom, the Najran Valley Dam, with a storage capacity of 85 million cubic meters (3,000 million cubic feet). The Emir of the region, however, expressed his dissatisfaction with the performance of public service departments in the region that still require major development. But the prince's policy is “Give those who are sincere a second chance to deliver,” he said, “but if they fail to deliver, then a decision will be made about it.” “If an official does not do what is expected of him, then he will be replaced, but I've sensed a real enthusiasm from everybody to accelerate development in the region,” the prince added. There are still many obstacles on the road to development in the region, including the problem of bureaucracy, but determination is a key element in success, Prince Misha'l said. “Man without ambition can't achieve anything, and I have a lot of ambitions for this region and the future will tell if they can be achieved or not,” he added. New managers are often obsessed with making changes once they are appointed to a position, and the prince agrees with that policy as long as “change has the purpose of development, which is what I truly believe in”. The idea of the high commission for Najran development was the brainchild of Prince Mish'al about a year ago, but it will take time to be realized, the prince said. Now all the region's projects are supervised by the concerned ministries, but this will change once the commission is approved, he added. Regarding the problem of poverty and homelessness of those living in the border area of Al-Kharkhier, the prince said that many efforts have been made for villagers in order to alleviate their hardships. The governor of the area was tasked with doing a needs analysis for the border area, the Emir said. “I have a file of the region's urgent needs and we will prioritize them. The most important thing for the Emir is to have essential public services delivered to the citizens and residents of the region. “Our job as officials is the service of the public, development of human resources and of the region itself,” Prince Misha'l said.
