MADINAH, 16 January 2006 — Saudi Arabia is a big country with lots of empty land in need of development. This development should no longer be willy-nilly, but should involve zoning regulations. Fortunately, the government is making progress in doing just that.
A lack of zoning regulations is still common, especially in villages where people race to build on land in order to confirm their rightful ownership. This land run causes neighborhoods to pop up at random, according to a report published recently by Al-Madinah newspaper.
The question is who is responsible for regulating land development and ownership? What happens when disputes arise?
Muhammad Al-Jabry is a Madinah resident who used to live in an elegant neighborhood for SR15,000 a year. He wanted to find more economical housing, preferably on land he owned.
Eventually he found a cheap plot outside of town. It had no ownership title, which is a common occurrence in a country like Saudi Arabia with a nascent need for zoning, a relatively small (but quickly growing) population and a surplus of land.
“I took a loan from the bank and started building my house. I brought a number of workers and started working. They were working in fear of the municipality storming in because there was no permit to build. My main concern was to finish as fast as possible,” Jabry told Al-Madinah.
After building the house, I started to search for services, like electricity, water and a phone line. I was able to get the services after a long struggle with authority. I still live in fear that the municipality might storm and take away my home because I have no ownership title,” said Jabry.
People invent new ways in stealing lands. One of the ways is to convince the municipality that they want the land to build a mosque. The idea is to steal the land and build a house instead. Some people turn the mosque they built into a house. Some build their homes behind the mosque.
In villages south of Madinah, there is a strange phenomenon. Some tribal leaders control entire villages and create their own zoning and road projects, which serve personal interests rather than those of the village.
These tribal leaders take control of swaths of land, with no other authority but their own. They sell prime portions of the land, leaving the rest of the village to fight over the scraps. If anyone complains, the tribal leaders will respond with the most menial of efforts, just to appease the authorities, and nothing more is done.
Hulayel Al-Harbi, resident of a village outside Madinah, said that there is a tribal leader in the village that does not interfere in any problem until he feels that the municipality and governorate office will interfere. Only then he solves the problem even if it means that injustice is served.
