Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance, Abdullatif Bin Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh has decided to establish a business center in the ministry's headquarters in Riyadh to manage the affairs of mosques.

Deputy minister for mosques, call and guidance will be the chairman of the center's board of trustees and that he should nominate other board members and the secretary general of the center.

Under the decision, the center will be responsible for the construction, operation, repair, maintenance and cleaning of the mosques.

The Kingdom has a total of 98,704 mosque of which only 17,145 are covered with maintenance and cleaning contracts.

The center will also receive donations, invest its resources to make more money, own real estate properties and contract private companies to carry out its projects.

Tawfiq Al-Sudairy, deputy minister, said the center will provide the financial resources necessary for the construction and maintenance of the mosques.

He said the ministry is also planning to establish a wakf (endowment) fund to be dedicated for the service of the mosques in all areas of the Kingdom.

There are more than 81,000 mosques, representing about 82 percent of the total number of mosques in the Kingdom which re without maintenance or cleaning contracts