Riyadh dismisses water minister for poor policy implementation

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saudi sacked water and electricity minister over his poor implementation of water tariff hike, Al Arabiya local news reported on Sunday.

Abdullah Al-Husayen, the minister, was replaced on Saturday by Agriculture Minister Abdulrahman al-Fadhli, who will do the job on an acting basis.

In November last year, the ministry announced a tariff rise by 50 percent on water and sanitation services offered to government bodies and large industrial and commercial establishments, adding that the move is to rationalize consumption.

He also assured then that about 87 percent of the water and power bills would not be affected by the increase.

Earlier, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is in charge of the oi-rich Kingdom's sweeping economic reforms, was quoted as saying increases in water tariffs had not been implemented according to the plans.

Riyadh has put in motion various measures to make the country less-dependent on oil export, including a hike in gasoline prices for local consumption when the steep decline of global oil prices are eating away its revenues, 70 percent of which are from oil.

Source: XINHUA