MOMRA receives ESRI Special achievement in GIS Award for 2008

Riyadh, January 31, SPA -- The Ministry of Municipal and Rural
Affairs represented by the Department of City Planning has been
awarded the plaque and certificate of "Special Achievement in GIS
(Geographic Information System)” from Environmental Systems Research
Institute (ESRI), held recently in the United States.


The award ceremony was attended by more than 15,000 experts and
users of these systems from 114 countries.


This was announced by Dr. Abdulrahman Hasan Al Asheikh, The MOMA
undersecretary for urban planning who received the award.


He said that the continuous guidance of the Minister of Municipal
and Rural Affairs has stepped up the agency's efforts to develop and
implement the technology at the level of the Ministry and other
various sectors in order to provide the best services, enhance the
quality of the work and shorten the time of the planning process.

Dr. Al Asheikh said that the ministry has a wealth of
background information in support of development decisions in Saudi
Arabia. The activation of such process in accordance with national
and global standards has become an urgent necessity in view of the
rapid development witnessed by the world today in the techniques of
geographic information and satellites information and remote sensing.


He emphasized that the quality of information infrastructure and the
establishment of IT infrastructure that will serve all relevant
sectors of the State, as an essential requirement that the government
supports and directs to activate the e-government.


--SPA