Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah ordered three years ago that money should be paid to those affected by the scheme, which will expand the Haram’s northern plazas.

“In a fatherly gesture the king instructed that compensation be paid to us immediately so we can purchase other buildings elsewhere but because of the red tape nothing has happened so far,” said an owner of a demolished Waqf (endowment) building, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Under Shariah rules, there are public endowments owned by the government and private ones belonging to individuals.

Most privately owned Waqf buildings were in the central area around the Grand Mosque.

The government confiscated them in order to expand the area around the mosque. The owners should have been paid compensation more than 36 months ago but nothing has materialized.

Owners say the delay in payment was caused by the inefficiency of the evaluating commission, which should have estimated the value of each demolished building by now.

“The commission, which belongs to the general court in Makkah, is composed of members who are not specialists in real estate, so they are unable to come up with the right estimates,” said another owner of a private Waqf building on condition of anonymity.

Ahmad Alaya, who looks after a number of private Waqf properties, said compensation worth about SR100 million for a number of endowment buildings demolished in the Al-Shamiyah area near the Haram more than three years ago was still pending.

“The evaluation commission has not yet approved the value of the buildings so the owners, who were relying on their proceeds, are almost begging now,” he said.

He urged concerned officials at the Justice Ministry to take immediate steps to end this situation because the owners have gone from riches to rags.

Adnan Muhammad, an overseer of his family’s endowments, said their properties in the central area around the Grand Mosque had an estimated worth of SR30 million.

“We obtained the approval of the Finance Ministry for the payment but the evaluation commission is still stalling,” he said.

He said real estate prices have soared in Makkah but the commission was not taking this into consideration.

“A real estate unit which would have sold at SR5 million will now bring more than SR8 million. The commission should keep this in mind when evaluating properties,” he said.

Lawyer Badr Al-Rouqi suggested the establishment of a special court to expedite the evaluation and compensation process.

“Procedures involving the demolished Waqf buildings are lengthy and need a special court to deal with them,” he said.

Muhammad Nihar, another lawyer, suggested forming the evaluating committee using people well versed in real estate.