A government committee has increased by 50 percent the value of 222 properties expropriated to make way for the Haramain Railway Project.

The committee is reevaluating all 400 properties that government needs to build the multibillion-riyal project. This comes in the wake of lawsuits filed by citizens who claimed the compensation was not fair.

Yusuf Al-Ahmadi, a member of the Property Assessment Committee in Makkah, said the Court of Grievances approved the revaluations. Government first valued the properties over two years ago.

Last September, the Administrative Appeal Court ordered the Ministry of Transport to reassess the value of the property expropriated for the Haramain project.

Al-Ahmadi said arrangements were under way to revalue the remaining properties. He said the Transport Ministry wants citizens to get a fair price.

The committee consists of representatives from the Ministries of Finance, Transport, Justice, Municipal and Rural Affairs, Makkah governorate and the private sector.

Meanwhile, contractors plan to demolish King Abdullah Bridge along the Haramain project route in Jeddah within the next two months.