JEDDAH, 5 April 2006 — Amer Siddiqi breathed a sigh of relief after receiving a refund of SR52,000 for a failed real estate venture in Makkah and Madinah, a project he invested in about two years ago.

The Manazil Al-Haramain time-share housing project was supposed to grant investors a 10-day-per-year stay in housing units close to the holy sites.

Siddiqi, a young Saudi banker, who got refunded only last month, said that he went through hard times to get his refund. Previously, Siddiqi had obtained a court order that ordered the project’s manager, Al-Aqar Holding Co., to refund him.

According to Abdul Aziz Al-Husaini, the Al-Aqar general manager, the project failed due to problems related to construction approval and permits. Those issues led to major delays and eventually a management collapse. This forced the major shareholders to call the whole project off, leaving local and international investors like Siddiqi in the dark.

In an article published in November in Arab News, refunds were promised to all shareholders before the end of 2005.

“The company’s manager contacted me shortly after the Arab News’ article on the refund problem last year,” Siddiqi said, adding that they have offered to pay him back in a two-month installment. He said that he felt like he had no other option but to agree.

“Even after two months I didn’t receive anything from them, even though I had a court order to enforce back my payment,” said the banker.

After several failed attempts to contact the company, Siddiqi went to his district’s leader and presented him the court order that enforces the refund.

“Amazingly I was well received when I had the official with me,” he said. “They gave me a check, but only after signing an agreement stating that the cancellation of the contract was upon my request.”

The company had automatically canceled the contract after they sold the project before its completion in 2004, he said. Siddiqi didn’t know if the company had refunded other local and international investors.

Arab News tried to contact Al-Aqar Holding officials, but there was no answer. The phone number on Siddiqi’s contract was out of order.

The real-estate project has since been sold, said Siddiqi, adding that he believed they have gained a 30-percent profit from the deal.