The government’s Land Recovery Committee in Jeddah’s Governorate has recovered 110 million square meters of illegally acquired lands from land grabbers and handed them back over to a city development company.
The recovered land has been granted to the Jeddah Development & Urban Regeneration Co. (JDURC) which undertakes the construction of houses, utilities and other services,” chairman of the committee Sameer Basabrin told Al-Hayat daily.
The committee asked the Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) to remove power meters from the facilities in the illegally occupied areas as well as from farms in the east and south of the governorate.
Basabrin said a number of land grabbers, and those that obstructed recovery operations, had been handed over to police for criminal proceedings against them.
He denied receiving any government instructions to stop recovery operations on illegally occupied properties, especially ones which were connected to SEC’s power supply.
He said the unplanned areas inside residential areas and unplanned areas outside the urban limits were different. “Unplanned areas inside residential districts come under the authority of the municipality, while the areas outside the urban limits are under the responsibility of the recovery committee.
The committee strictly deals with any attempt of encroachment and illegal constructions on any government land. The committee’s move was also supported by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal,” Basabrin said.
He added that the land handed over to the JDURC was originally intended for recreational, social and developmental projects, but was delayed because of the unauthorized occupation.
The projects would start after the formalities of official land transfer had been completed.
He said the committee’s campaign against encroachers on government lands included Wadi Al-Asla, where the JDURC’s projects such as the Eastern Forest, safari park and national park were to be implemented.
The first phase of the Eastern Forest is expected to sprawl over an area of 10 million square meters. The national park also requires not less than 20 million square meters, according to an earlier statement by a Jeddah municipal official. The safari park needs 35 million square meters to house herbivorous and carnivorous animals, sanctuaries for birds, butterflies and reptiles, an aquarium, Jurassic park and zoological gardens.
He said the recovered plots of land also included locations to construct the Haramain Railway, the land required for the construction of a new circular road, Hady Al-Sham Road, the Land Bridge route, properties belonging to the King Abdul Aziz University in Asfan and the Saudi Industrial Property Authority located in the south of the governorate, land for the recycling plant in Al-Khomrah and land allocated for the construction of some government hospitals.
Jeddah committee recovers land from encroachers
