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JEDDAH – An international real estate investment company has won a SR1.1 billion contract to construct housing units on an area of about a million sq. meters.
Falah Al-Sibei, chairman of the company’s board of directors, said the dwellings will be affordable for people with a broad range of income and the project has been planned well in all respects.
The company will begin executing the project in December, said Al-Sibei, who believes new regulations and legislation have reduced the number of bad investments by home-buyers and improved the Kingdom’s real estate market.
 Saudis are now more aware of how best to buy a residence and choose a responsible, honest owner and developer, he added.
The project is part of implementing directives to construct housing units throughout the Kingdom to address ongoing shortages and predicted needs for more housing, Al-Sibei said. 
Statistics indicate that housing units form 75 percent of the real estate activity in the Kingdom and that there is a need for more than SR75 billion per year to meet the annual demand for housing units for the next 10 years.
Al-Sibei, who said the company would strive to execute the project through the targeted strategic plan, added that the contract reflects that businessmen have confidence in the company’s strategy and investments.
Recently, Abdulaziz Al-Dukheil of the Consulting Center for Finance and Investment estimated that four out of five Saudis earn between just SR2,500 and SR8,500 per month.
“People who earn less than 10,000 riyals per month, and they are millions, cannot find a home,” he said. Not when the price for a quarter acre block in an average Riyadh suburb is SR1.5 million. – Okaz/SG

RIYADH – Zain Saudi Arabia, the Kingdoms third mobile operator, offered shareholders to cut its capital by almost half to cover accumulated losses, and later launch a rights issue to raise it by nearly 60 percent.

Zain Saudis board offered on Saturday the capital restructuring plan for the operator which has paid $6 billion for a license to operate in the biggest Arab economy and has come under intense pressure from rivals Saudi Telecom and Mobily.

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MAKKAH/JEDDAH/DAMMAM/JIZAN/TABUK/TAIMA – Counterfeit and expired goods, unlabeled cosmetics, tissues, perfumes and other products of unknown origin fill Abu Riyalain or Two-Riyal shops and are highly sought after by people who do not seem to care about the possible harm this “factory trash” may cause them, despite studies suggesting that the use of these items may cause allergies, inflammation and even cancer because some of them contain large amounts of chemicals.

While some shoppers told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that they were happy to buy these cheap items, others said that the makeup, plastic plates, perfumes and cleaning products had harmed their skin and scalp, and demanded that the Abu Riyalain shops be monitored by the Consumer Protection Agency.

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JEDDAH – Saudi Telecom Co (STC) shares fell after the Kingdoms regulator confirmed BlackBerry messenger will be banned from Friday, weighing on Saudi Arabias index Tadawul All Share Index (TASI). The index retreated 0.01 percent to 6,300.44 points on Wednesdays close.

STC fell 1.6 percent, taking its losses to 4.9 percent this week, while rival Etihad Etisalat ended flat to leave it down 4.3 percent since Sunday.

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JEDDAH – Saudi Arabian real estate and energy companies are leading Islamic bond sales from the Gulf as the Kingdoms $400 billion stimulus plan, the biggest among the Group of 20 nations, boosts spending.

Sukuk from borrowers in the largest Arab economy may more than double to $4.5 billion this year from $2.1 billion in 2009, as a “scarcity” of local notes that comply with the religions ban on interest bolsters demand from local banks, according to HSBC Saudi Arabia Ltd.

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JEDDAH – Saudi Arabias banks have eased a drive to amass investments abroad as they appear to be shifting their interest back to the domestic market after keeping a low profile for more than a year, according to official data.

After soaring by nearly 75 percent through 2009, the combined investments abroad by the Gulf Kingdoms 12 commercial banks edged down by around SR1 billion in the first half of 2010, showed the figures by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), the countrys central bank.

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JEDDAH: A 40-year-old Pakistani was arrested in Jeddahs Al-Faisaliyah district on charges of swindling another Pakistani national of 5,000 riyals on the pretext that he would facilitate the travel procedures for his mother who was illegally staying in the Kingdom, the Jeddah police announced on Friday.

The police said the swindler promised his compatriot that he would enable his mother to go through the airport with no trouble, but when he failed to keep his word the victim took the matter to the immigration authorities. The police warned foreigners not to fall prey to visa and passport swindlers.

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JEDDAH &ndash; Police in Jeddah are questioning a man believed to be the father of a baby girl found living with two unrelated persons during police raids across the city on Tuesday.<br/> The discovery was made at a house in the Al-Jami&rsquo;a district of the city where an Indonesian woman residing in the Kingdom illegally and a man of the same nationality were found with a one and half month old child of &ldquo;Arab appearance&rdquo;.<br/> Saudi Gazette reported on Wednesday that the baby girl was found seemingly hidden beneath a pile of clothes, and although the couple initially denied any knowledge of the child, the woman later told police that she had been left in her care shortly after birth by an Arab woman who paid her 300 riyals a month and told her she did not want anyone to know about the baby&rsquo;s existence.<br/> The Indonesian woman also told investigators that she was not aware she was breaking any laws.<br/> The suspected father of the child told investigators on Wednesday that when he separated from his foreign wife and she was sent back to her home country, he decided to place their child in the care of the woman in return for monthly payments.<br/> Police said they are continuing their investigations into the case. &ndash; Okaz/SG

MADINA – A 50-year-old Yemeni man was bundled into a car in Madina late Tuesday night before being beaten up and robbed of 10,000 riyals, police said Wednesday. The victim was reportedly driving home from work when he was forcibly stopped by three persons claiming to be police officers who bound his hands and blindfolded him before beating him up and threatening to kill him. He was then driven to another site where they attacked him again and left him lying unconscious. The victim said the stolen money had been given to him by his sponsor for purchases. A police investigation is under way. – Okaz/SG

JEDDAH – Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) was the main drag as the Kingdoms index TASI declined, while other bluechips also fell as traders book gained from the Tuesdays month-high.

SABIC ended 0.9 percent lower, falling for a third day in four. On Sunday, affiliate Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co said it needed more money to cover a $2.4 billion rise in building costs for a new plant. Kayan ended flat.

Etihad Etisalat dropped 1.4 percent, easing from Tuesdays 29-month high. SABB fell 0.9 percent.

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