JEDDAH: Residents and landowners in Al-Khomrah area, which is being evacuated by the authorities through eminent domain on the belief the people are squatters on government land, have started taking shifts in a camp erected at the entrance of the district to protect their homes from being demolished by municipality bulldozers.
Residents, however, dispute the claim they do not own the land they call home.
“We have official ownership contracts from the real estate offices, but the municipality doesn’t even look at them and claims that we have taken the land for free,” said Siddiq Sindi, owner of a house in the Bin Jalawi neighborhood.
The municipality has issued an order to demolish all structures within a 100,000-square meter residential area that has been deemed an “illegal district.” Demolitions are taking place in phases in this area about an hour south of downtown Jeddah.
Residences in the area have notifications spray-painted on their walls announcing the date of demolition.
Sindi claims that he spent SR100,000 on his house. He said the district’s residents have petitioned many times to stop their evacuation.
“The municipality still treats us as if we have taken the land for free though we have official documentation that we have bought the land,” he noted.
Some residents like Sindi are demanding their day in court before any further demolitions should take place. Some residents were seen yesterday taking daily shifts in an encampment that was erected at the main entrance of the district to stand against municipality trucks that have managed to demolish some houses in the past few months.
Fahd Al-Jadaani, one of the men maintaining vigil in the camp, said he spent six years building and adding on to his home.
“I haven’t even fed my children enough in order to build the house and now they just want to take it away without even paying me back what I have paid for the land and for the house,” Al-Jadaani said.
Now the Shoura Council in Riyadh appears to be getting involved.
Council member Abdullah Al-Fifi has called for an immediate solution to this conflict, such as offering alternative housing for residents before demolishing their homes.
Samir Basabrain, head of the municipality’s Government Lands Committee, said the municipality would look into the issue. Owners of houses may be expected to purchase the land they reside from the municipality at current property values in order to keep their homes.
