RIYADH, 4 July 2006 — Despite the huge amount of empty land, government foot-dragging in the complex procedure of granting lands to citizens is still a major problem, according to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

Many citizens complain about the delay they face in receiving lands from the government.

They say that sometimes it takes years before their name appears on the list of grants.

Officials have confirmed to Asharq Al- Awsat that some have royal gifts from higher authorities but the executive departments are refusing to carry out these orders and grant the lands to those in need.

Khaled Al-Hugail, who applied for a land grant in Riyadh area, was surprised at the delay in the process. He said that these grants were important to middle income people because not many were able to buy land because of current high prices.

Basil Al-Mazyied said his name appeared in the newspaper list of those who have been given grants but when he went to the municipality to claim it, he found that the grant was canceled. When he asked the officials the reason for the cancelation, they did not have an answer.

Saud Al-Shetaiwi, general manager of public lands and properties at Riyadh Municipality, said the municipality was suffering a lot from “higher orders” when only few plots were available. He said the municipality was forced to grant plots far away from services — electricity, sewerage and water — in order to carry out the orders.

He said the total number of land grants in Riyadh last year reached 529,615 plots, the highest in the Kingdom.

Al-Shetaiwi pointed out that the time it takes to prepare a land grant is four months even though the application and distribution was done electronically.

The head of Al-Rass Municipality in Qasim Region, Suleiman Al-Khalefa, said that the main reason for delaying the distribution was people’s claim of ownership over the land. He said that many times the municipality announced names of new claimants and canceled them because of counterclaims.

Abdullah Al-Onaizi said his name had been on the waiting list for a very long time.

Plots were of limited number in his area and he needed one to build a house. He said that he was losing a lot of money by moving from one temporary accommodation to another; his own land was his dream and would end his suffering.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has allocated SR10 billion to construct 64,000 low-cost houses in the next four years for hundreds of Saudi families who live in makeshift buildings and slums in various parts of the country.

According to a survey conducted by the Prince Abdullah Foundation for Housing, people live in poverty in many parts of the Kingdom.