“I am deprived of the opportunity to take a housing loan from the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) to construct a new house. Actually my loan has been approved after 13 years. I am badly in need of  a new house because I lost my old house to a project for road development in Al-Zahrin district,” said Waleed Khairallah, a resident of Makkah who on Saturday complained to National Society for Human Rights (NSHR).

About 16 years ago, long time before his house was marked for demolition, Khairallah applied for a house loan to the REDF and his application was approved three years ago.

“But the REDF has not given me the loan because I do not fulfill a condition set by the REDF that an applicant should have a plot to build his house. I actually had the plot when I applied for the loan but its ownership was taken away from me by the authorities for the development project. The payment of the price of my plot has been delayed because of the delay in implementing the project,” he said.

He also complained about the price of the land fixed by the government. A price estimation committee fixed the market value of the plots in Al-Zahrin district at SR4,000 per square meter, he said.

“I cannot buy land at the rate of SR4,000 anywhere in Makkah, and I fear that by the time the authorities pay me the price of my plot the price of land will be far higher than the current price,” he said in the complaint. 

Following his plea to the REDF to hold his loan for some more time, it allowed him a grace period  that would expire in seven months, he said.

If he did not own a plot of land during the grace period he would lose his right for the loan and will have to apply again which may require him to wait another decade or more, he said.