Makkah and Riyadh Regions have the largest portions of used and white (vacant) lands in the Kingdom local media said quoting data released by the Ministry of Municipality and Rural Affairs.

The Kingdom has over 17 million square hectares of white lands including planned and unplanned units, Al-Hayat daily said quoting the Ministry’s report.

Meanwhile, the total land in the Kingdom exceeding 4 million square hectares is used for housing, commercial and agricultural purposes with Makkah and Riyadh regions capturing the biggest portion of used and vacant lands.

The largest areas of used lands were registered in the Makkah region at 1.35 million square hectares whereas planned and un-planned areas of lands accounted for over one million square hectares. On the other hand, used lands in Riyadh and Madinah stood at 350,915 and 93,607 square hectares respectively, according to the report.

Planned and unplanned plots of lands in both cities stood at 951,410 and 561,274 square hectares, respectively, the report said.

In other regions of the Kingdom, areas of used and vacant lands (in square hectares) are as follows: Qasim 313,614 (704,764), the Eastern Province 186,836 (200,859), Asir 536,354 (1,085,730), Tabuk 56,657 (66,629), Hail 160,149 (632,881), Northern Border 22,561 (22,810), Jazan 266,542 (579,377), Najran 706,466 (431,812), Baha 183,701 (565,745), and Jouf which has the least areas of used lands at 23,391 square hectares, the report said.