Citizens of the Hail region also called on the king at Aja Palace King Salman also laid the foundation for four projects worth SR294 million in the region JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Thursday inaugurated 259 development projects worth SR7 billion ($1.86 billion) in the Hail region. Hail Gov. Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saad bin Abdul Aziz thanked the king for visiting the region. He said the king allocated funds for the projects related to various sectors, including tourism, electricity, municipality, environment, water, agriculture, housing, transport and energy. Citizens of the Hail region also called on the king at Aja Palace. The king also laid the foundation for four projects worth SR294 million in the region. The projects implemented by the Ministry of Transport aim at achieving the leadership aspirations to upgrade the quality of life in cities under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. These projects include carrying out the final phase of a project to directly connect the Hail region with the holy sites in Madinah and Makkah, in addition to adding another lane to the initial phase of the existing Hail/Al-Ula road and completing the Hail/Rafha two-way road project. Other projects include a one-way, 366-kilometer road; restoring and upgrading an existing 237-kilometer road; adding a 13-kilometer lane to an existing road, and building top and bottom crossings. The ministry is carrying out regular maintenance for 4,283 kilometers of roads in the Hail region at a cost of more than SR225 million and preventative maintenance for more than 370 kilometers of roads at a cost of SR295 million, in addition to maintaining 2,760 out of the 6,100 dirt roads in the region at a cost of SR48.4 million. These projects will help the movement of residents and pilgrims traveling by land, in addition to boosting the movement of goods and improving road safety by directing trucks movement away from the cities. Earlier in Qassim, the king inaugurated 600 development projects worth SR16 billion in the region.