- MAKKAH: Owners of properties expropriated for Makkah’s King Abdul Aziz Road Project, which is being built parallel to the proposed Haramain Railway and will cut through a number of undeveloped areas in the southern parts of the holy city, are to get compensations of up to 45 percent more than originally fixed.
The company that is implementing the project has urged the property owners to visit its offices along with original property deeds to complete the procedures for compensation payment.
The increase in compensation follows a decision by the authorities to reassess the value of expropriated properties after a number of owners raised objections that the amount they were originally offered was far below the market value of their properties.
“The maximum estimated compensation amounted to SR8,000 per sq. meter while the market value reached SR20,000 per sq. meter in the case of properties facing streets,” said one building owner.
In a petition to the authorities, the owners had said the amount of compensation fixed by the government committee was not enough to allow them to purchase properties elsewhere in Makkah.
“We’re unable to purchase land or houses in view of the jump in real estate prices following the construction boom the holy city has been witnessing over the past few years. The amount of money they are offering will force us to live in rented buildings,” said another resident, adding that most of the people whose properties have been acquired belong to the middle- and low-income groups.
They had also urged the higher authorities to review the amount of compensation they were being offered, adding that owners of properties appropriated for the expansion of the northern courtyard of the Grand Mosque were treated favorably.
More than 4,000 properties have been acquired for the King Abdul Aziz Road Project, which is Makkah’s second largest traffic project and will pass through Tindbawi, Mansour, Rusaifa, Hindawiya and Harat Al-Zaharain districts. The ongoing monorail project will pass close to this road and along pedestrian tunnels leading to the Grand Mosque.
The road, which begins from behind the Jabal Omar project close to the Grand Mosque, will link the central part of Makkah to the Jeddah Expressway.
The King Abul Aziz Road is the first of a series of projects being planned in Makkah’s undeveloped neighborhoods. The value of expropriated properties have been fixed by a committee comprising representatives of the governorate, the mayoralty, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice and the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
