The best thing I can do here is to quote Saudi economist Essam Al-Zamil, who told Agence France Presse that putting an end to the acquisition of empty land plots was the first step toward solving the problem of accommodation in Saudi Arabia. He said that instead of building factories or schools, businessmen acquire large plots of land and keep them empty for many years during which the prices double or triple. The landowners do not lose anything by keeping their lands empty as they are not paying any fees.

The economist said the accommodation problem had two parts: The land and the houses. He said the part concerning the houses had been solved when Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah ordered the construction of 500,000 housing units in five years and gave SR250 billion to the Ministry of Housing.

The economist said the other part of the problem was due to skyrocketing prices of land as a result of massive exodus of people from rural areas to cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. He said the residents of Jeddah had been obliged to build their houses in the valley passes  because of scarcity of land.

“The solution lies in reverse migration. The countryside should be developed and job opportunities created in order to attract urban dwellers,” he said. He hoped that the industrial cities to be built in the countryside would provide thousands of jobs and that way lure thousands of citizens to the rural areas.