Saudi Arabia’s National Housing Company (NHC) has introduced local sourcing in all of its housing projects, according to reports.
The NHC, the Ministry of Housing’s investment arm tasked with providing affordable housing for Saudi Nationals, said it had increased the share of local content procurement in labour, products, services and technology, to 81%.
The announcement comes as the Saudi General Authority for Competition was reportedly urged to boost its understanding of competition and procurement by the Shura Council’s Economy and Energy Committee.
The General Authority for Competition was also urged to collaborate with other government agencies to provide more regulatory tools to increase fair competition in the economy.
The committee made the recommendations at a meeting to discuss the General Authority for Competition’s annual reports, and the financing guarantee initiative for SMEs.
Committee members stressed the importance of the General Authority for Competition increasing its efforts to raise the level of knowledge about competition and procurement, especially for workers in the government or private sectors.
Developing an effective complaints and communications programme, and allowing complaints and demands to be processed in a maximum of six months, was also discussed by the committee.
The committee members also looked at a report of the SMEs Financing Guarantee Programme.
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