SAUDI Arabia is one of the biggest countries in terms of landmass spread over an area of around one million square miles with a population of about 30 million.
In other words, we have enough space to accommodate any expansion in any city without much difficulty. We do have obstacles and challenges of different kinds like the nature of the land, climatic conditions and severe shortage of water resources. In addition to these natural obstacles, we are faced with the issues of inadequate planning and mismanagement and a lack of efficient infrastructure especially in the rural areas.
We all know that many countries faced similar situations but they overcame all obstacles. The Netherlands is situated below sea level but with proper planning, large polder areas are now preserved through drainage systems. Singapore and Hong Kong overcame the problem of being densely populated tiny landmasses. Japan with its relatively high number of earthquakes also adapted to the phenomena with special building mechanism. So, why do we, the Saudis, need land reforms, land management and new building codes?
The Saudi population is growing at a rapid pace. And urbanization is also at its peak with more Saudis striving to move to cities for better prospects. Due to rapid urbanization, cities like Riyadh have grown into one of the largest cities in the world with a population exceeding the 5-million mark. With this burgeoning population in a city like Riyadh, is there enough land to accommodate these millions without witnessing any hike in land prices.
During the past few days, my classmate and former Shoura Council member, Dr. Ihsan Bouhiliqah, has raised this issue in a number of his columns in an Arabic-language daily. Last week, at an informal gathering at the majlis of another friend, Saleh Al-Humaidan, who is also associated with the newspaper industry, I was surprised to learn that there is one vacant, unused and unutilized square meter for each used, occupied and utilized square meter in many of the cities in the Kingdom. In other words, the hike in land prices is artificial due to which owning a decent house has become an uphill task for many Saudis.
There is a need for implementing rules and regulations for land usage in addition to establishing land utilization department to oversee proper use of lands, which are vacant and many of the owners just wait for the land prices to go up. It is fine because it’s their property but they don’t pay property taxes and this way, many large unused plots of lands are in the middle of already developed areas and these areas are becoming very congested while the owners of lands are not selling or developing these large areas in the middle of many major cities.
So, it is very necessary to implement a tax regime to utilize the large vacant lands. This will drive the prices down and make it easier for Saudis to own a home and help the government in planning for future. Isn’t it ironic that despite being a country with a huge landmass, we don’t find space to construct a school in some cities of the Kingdom?
The government has taken many steps to help citizens buy homes, which includes interest-free loans but without land reforms that include taxing landowners, it will be difficult to bring land prices down. Or if the government doesn’t want to impose any form of taxes then there should be rules about developing the land within a given period like for example five years and if the land is not developed then heavy taxes should be imposed.
There is another issue, I would like to highlight here. Many Saudis build their houses in such a way that it is hard to maintain. There are houses, which are more than 5,000 square meters. Due to the size of the houses, the consumption of water and energy increases. In other words, we waste many resources not out of necessity but due to old habits that have to be changed.
We must change our lifestyles keeping in view our future needs. We should think about our future generations. Many countries as I have mentioned adapted to the changing situation so we have no choice but to change and adapt. Our youths must be taught that oil will not remain forever.
