JEDDAH, 30 August 2006 — Justice Minister Abdullah Al-Asheikh, heading a specially formed committee, has ordered notaries in Riyadh and Makkah to stop issuing land ownership deeds regarding land that was intended to accommodate a new industrial zone in Jeddah.
Deeds were being issued for a 400-million-square-meter parcel of land east of Jeddah; however, it has emerged that much of the land is allegedly part of a centuries-old endowment held by a group of landowners who say the proceeds from the development of the land goes to local orphanages and women’s shelters.
A committee was formed after the emergence of the landowners who said that the land was set up for endowment purposes with certified documentation that goes back 300 years, according to Al-Sharif Saleh Al-Barakati, head of public relations for the committee responsible for the endowment land. Landowner Saeed Ibrahim Al-Armati has said the land, on the eastern side of Jeddah, belongs to the endowment and should not be appropriated for development.
Al-Barakati spoke to the press on Sunday evening at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in order to clarify the ownership of the land. He said that recently the local press had written about a new industrial zone planned for the area, and that the situation needed to be clarified for investors who had begun buying parcels of the land from notaries in both Riyadh and Makkah.
After filing the case with the legal ownership deeds at the Ministry of Justice, a special committee was formed, headed by the minister of justice, and the committee has issued a number of recommendations, he said. They included a ban on all new ownership deeds from notaries in Riyadh and Makkah. The Makkah municipality was told to stop approving any project plans or licenses for the land. The Ministry of Finance has ordered a stop to all compensation regarding the land and will finally authenticate all legal documents pertaining to ownership of the land.
After implementing all the committee’s suggestions, the minister issued an order to cancel all the deeds of investors who bought pieces of land from both Riyadh and Makkah notaries.
Al-Barakati said that once the ownership of the land has been established, it will be open for investment and investors will be asked to send proposals for projects. “This would generate substantial revenue that would develop the endowment according to what it was set up for,” he said.
