This will help facilitate the transformation of one of Jeddah’s oldest and underdeveloped neighborhoods into a world-class urban district. It was also announced that utility services for residential and commercial buildings in the district will be disconnected from early March 2012, Al-Eqtisadiah business daily reported.
Osama Shahata, who is in charge of developing underdeveloped regions at the JDURC, said the announcement would be based on a bylaw for developing such regions.
“Under the bylaw, the company in coordination with the Jeddah municipality should inform all owners and tenants of buildings in Ruwais about the date of their eviction and demolish the buildings within a period not less than six months and not more than one Hijri year,” he said.
“This will give enough time to the owners of properties who are yet to complete the procedures to receive compensation to do so and move to other locations.”
Raisan Arabian Company, which has been authorized to implement the project in alliance with JDURC, had recently reassured owners of properties who do not possess original ownership documents that they would nevertheless receive compensation.
Tareq Al-Shadli, executive director general of Raisan, said the company has taken a raft of measures aimed at protecting the rights of property owners. These included providing them with details of the steps taken when evaluating their properties and fixing compensation. Property evaluations in Ruwais district are conducted by a separate and independent committee that strictly adheres to the country’s regulations with regard to acquiring property for public projects.
The Ruwais project is regarded the second largest project to develop underdeveloped districts in Jeddah, covering a total area of 142,0174 square meters. The total value of compensation for real estate and properties in the area is estimated at more than SR3 billion.
Ruwais is situated in central Jeddah, north of downtown Balad, and lies between four major roads in the city — Madinah Road, King Abdullah Road, Andalus Street and Palestine Road. There are more than 3,000 houses in the area and has an estimated population of 34,000, including citizens and expatriates.
The evaluation of properties was on the basis of two major clauses. One is the value of plots of land based on locality and their proximity to major roads and streets. The second clause takes into account the type of buildings and materials used in their construction.
The company has prepared a comprehensive plan for the development of Ruwais as part of a plan to transform Jeddah into a dynamic and world-class city. The total built-up area specified in the strategy would cover an area spreading over 5.8 million square meters.
Most of the buildings in Ruwais are in need of serious modernizing. The Jeddah municipality has been entrusted with the task of constructing and renovating roads and streets prior to implementing the project.
