The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) announced that nine projects will be awarded across the Kingdom at costs amounting to more than SR433 million ($115.4 million). The commission said that another five projects will also be awarded within the SCTH cultural heritage projects that will cost more than SR1.4 billion ($373 million). SCTH President Prince Sultan bin Salman sponsored the signing of the contracts with a number of national companies. These new projects include the establishment of new museums, development of existing ones, expansion of the National Museum, maintenance, fencing and posting of awareness notices in the archaeological and heritage sites in addition to other projects to rehabilitate a number of archaeological sites across the Kingdom. They come in the framework of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman’s program for cultural heritage in the Kingdom that has now 230 projects. These projects cover antiquities, museums, sites of Islamic history, urban heritage and handicrafts in addition to other aspects of the Kingdom’s heritage. The new projects also included the design of museum exhibitions; executive plans for the rehabilitation of Al-Saqqaf Palace in the Makkah region; expansion and development of the National Museum (first phase); design and preparation of the executive plans of the SCTH regional museums in Dammam, Tabuk, Baha, Hail, Jouf, Najran and Asir; museum projects in Al-Qasim, Arar, Tima and Ahsa, and the railway museum in Madinah; the rehabilitation project of Khuzam Palace and other historic and heritage buildings in Ahsa; and the rehabilitation of ten heritage buildings in Yanbu (first phase). The projects also include the rehabilitation of the archaeological sites in al-Jouf Region, including five sites in Skaka Province and another two in Domat-al-Jandal Province. The maintenance, fencing and posting notices projects cover 300 sites across the Kingdom. The signing of operation and engineering contracts for museums and archaeological sites covered more than 130 locations in order to raise the efficiency and level of archaeological and heritage sites and museums throughout Saudi Arabia.