JEDDAH: The Jeddah municipality recently won a court battle against the former investor of Marjan Market in Safa District, northeast of Jeddah, who had taken the municipality to court demanding compensation for delaying the use of a piece of real estate for 15 years.
In a lawsuit file at the administrative court in the Makkah province, the plaintiff insisted the municipality should pay compensation for the value of the building, its internal facilities and its profit for 10 years. Mazen Al-Qattan, director of legal affairs at the municipality, said the case dated back to 2005 when the plaintiff appealed against the municipality’s move to auction Marjan Market for public investment.
The municipality said it invested money into the 26,376-meter area to construct a new building, as the previous building was very old and lacked safety feature.
The municipality put a condition on those who participated in the auction not to cause any harm to the existing building and establish a separate door for the market to ensure smooth passage for people.But the plaintiff, through his own choice, left the site.
The municipality said that the plaintiff’s evacuation of the site and commitment of the new investor not to damage the existing building nullified the previous agreement.
It also pointed out that Article 14 of the agreement specified that the plaintiff would not have any right to request compensation for facilities at the end of the agreement or when he expresses his desire to evacuate the site while the agreement is valid.
