MADINAH, 21 September 2004 — The executive committee tasked with developing the central area in Madinah has seized the plots of land where two projects — the residential and commercial Haram center and Bani Al-Najjar market — were to come up.
The committee ordered Aqar Holding Company to remove everything that is built on the land and return the land in its original condition because the company could not pay the agreed value of the land.
Mayor of Madinah Abdul Aziz Al-Hussein, who heads the executive committee, said the committee took four procedures against the company for not paying the second and third installments of the price of six plots located on the eastern side of the holy mosque. This was a violation of the agreement between the company and the committee. The first step was the cancellation of the agreement between the two parties, which meant the annulment of a deal worth SR1.25 billion. The company had paid only SR350 million.
The fate of SR750 million raised by the company through share floatation for the Al-Najjar market project is still not known.
Aqar Holding Company bought the land from the executive committee two years ago at a price of SR1.25 billion.
