JEDDAH: Reverse migration from major cities is a growing trend in Saudi Arabia. Many families, especially young ones, have recently been seen shifting from their urban homes to villages or suburbs where rents and the cost of living are lower.

“I opted to move to Hajjar village near Rabigh from the city of Jeddah with my wife and two daughters because it is quieter there, rents are low and the cost of living is not as high as in the city,” said Abdullah Al-Harbi.

Al-Harbi said he knows many families that have moved to districts of Mastourah, Al-Abwa, Hajjar and others from Jeddah and Rabigh.

“There are schools and health centers in these villages,” he said. “So teachers and health officials can easily find jobs. The private sector has established many commercial and industrial projects. So finding jobs in these places is not a difficult thing.”

The same phenomenon has been noticed in the villages and districts in the province, such as Wadi Fatima and Bahra.

Sayed Mohammed, a realtor, said the purchasing of land and real estate had remarkably gone up in Bahra during the past five years.

“Many families came to live in these places, escaping from the high rents and noise in Makkah and Jeddah,” he said, adding that the government was keen to provide all the basic needs that would help people live in these areas.

In this connection, chief of the Municipal Council in Makkah, Abdul Mohsen Al-Sheikh, said a lot of development projects would be implemented in Bahra, including asphalting roads, lighting, gardens and a sewage system that would protect the area against the hazards of floods.

Abdullah Allihaibi, head of the Hajjar rural complex, asked young men wanting to establish families to look toward villages and suburban districts where the ambience is serene and cost of living is reasonable.

“There are 15,000 families now living in Hajjar, and I urge young couples to come and join us,” he said.

Abdul Raheem Al-Saati, an economics professor at King Abdulaziz University, hailed the urban-to-rural migration and said it was within the government plans to encourage such a trend.

Al-Saati, however, did not believe that the experiment was so far successful. He said life in the village was not tempting because of lack of services and employment opportunities.

“We need gigantic projects to make people move from towns to villages that look deserted and abandoned,” he said.