JEDDAH: Jeddah Municipality has cleared a tract of land from illegal occupiers, who had intended to sell the property.

Mohammad Al-Zahrani, chairman of the municipality’s southern branch, said officials had faced stiff resistance from citizens who wanted to delay their removal.

Al-Zahrani said Jeddah Mayor Hani Abu Ras given strict orders to remove these encroachments and that encroachers had received warnings to vacate the land.

Those who failed to comply would face heavy penalties, he said.

He said that while many citizens resisted the move to push them off the land, no one could prove that they had legal documents proving they owned the properties, he said.

Al-Zahrani said he had identified 13 illegal houses on 13,000 square meters of land in the southern industrial area, and seized three bulldozers and five big trucks from 100,000 square meters of land.

He said in just six months, the municipality removed encroachments from over 1.1 million square meters land, and thanked residents for assisting the municipality.