A committee at the Jeddah Municipality plans to seal uncovered wells in the area in collaboration with the Civil Defense, said Samir Basabrin, chairman of the Anti-Encroachment Committee at the municipality.

“The committee is soon to fill 30 open wells after determining that these wells pose a threat to human life,” said Basabrin.

He said the committee also recovered millions of square meters of illegally occupied government land.

Relinquished plots were used for various government initiatives, such as implementing projects for the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) in eastern Jeddah and constructing a 500-bed Health Ministry hospital at a local village and a ring road, in addition to the Haramain Railway, a mosque in north Jeddah and a new workshop on Usfan Road.

Land had been repossessed from farms, hills, animal pens, empty sheds, ponds, dams and rainwater drainage canals.

Landowners were compensated for the acquisitions.

The committee has also seized 200 equipment used for encroachment during operations.

“The committee demands that citizens substantiate land claims,” he said. “Citizens who fail to do so will be deemed illegal occupiers and instructed to vacate the land within a period of 10 days.”

“Refusal to comply will result in forced repossession and occupiers will be liable to pay associated costs,” he said.

Land encroachment has dropped 80 percent over the past five years thanks to the availability of equipment for repossessing illegally seized lands, he said. “The committee’s awareness campaigns on the matter are yielding good results.”

“A culture against land grabbing is taking root among the citizens since they know that the committee is operating in their general interest,” he said.

Equipment owners on illegally occupied land will be fined SR50,000 and their equipment detained for 30 days for second-time offenses.

First-time violators will be liable to pay anywhere between SR2,000 and SR10,000, while third-time encroachers will have their machinery confiscated and will face prison time.