المملكة: Allowing 12 commercial and recreational activities within public parks with controls – urgent

I introduced The Ministry of Municipalities and Housing issued a decision allowing the practice of 12 commercial and recreational activities within Public parks overlooking residential streets.

The decision subjected these licenses to strict investment controls that preserve their identity as public facilities and prevent harm to the privacy and comfort of neighbors.

Critical Requirements

The directives obligated secretariats and municipalities to include critical requirements in investment contracts, most notably that the area of buildings should not exceed 25% of the total total of the park.

The directives required that the The park is located on a street no less than 15 meters wide, with an emphasis on preventing new activities from directly overlooking the residences.

The organization specified an area of five thousand square meters as a minimum to allow the establishment of men’s and women’s gyms affiliated with the Ministry of Sports, and entertainment centers affiliated with the General Entertainment Authority.

This area also included children’s hospitality centers, day care for the disabled, and non-hospitalization centers for the elderly under the supervision of the Ministry of Human Resources and Development. Social.

The regulation allowed the establishment of retail outlets for fruits and vegetables affiliated with the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing in gardens with an area of no less than 1,500 square metres.

The decision allowed in the same area the establishment of hydroponic agriculture projects for the production of vegetables affiliated with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture.

With regard to gardens whose areas start from 1,200 square meters, cafes affiliated with the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing were allowed to open with a complete ban on serving tobacco.

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The approved list for this area included ice cream shops and juice outlets, in addition to retail flower shops subject to the Ministry of Commerce.

Continuous review of the implementation of the decision

The decision required the secretariats to prepare a comprehensive traffic study and implement its recommendations before granting licenses to practice commercial activities.

This regulatory procedure is strictly applied to parks whose total area exceeds five thousand square meters. The new regulation imposed on investors to assume full responsibility for the operation and maintenance of equipped gardens with all their components.

In the event of allocating unequipped lands, the investor is obligated to construct, operate and maintain them in accordance with the approved guides for the implementation and design of garden and landscaping projects in cities.

The regulations restricted investors to the heights allowed in the building system not to exceed two floors, while applying Saudi architecture standards and the public realm of gardens.

And to protect neighbors, the directives imposed compliance. In its final clause, the decision revealed the formation of a higher committee that includes the ministry’s agencies for privatization and financial sustainability, urban and land planning, licensing and project coordination.

This new committee undertakes the tasks of continuously reviewing the implementation of the decision, and studying proposals to add, delete, or modify permitted commercial activities in the future.

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