Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH —Municipal authorities in Jeddah have submitted a list of 22 land sharks to the governorate to take punitive action. The municipality said the alleged land grabbers targeted plots owned by the government in 19 townships and districts. "These land thieves exploit the names of legal personalities and use official holidays to encroach upon public land and sell it illegally," Mohammed Al-Baqami, spokesman for Jeddah Municipality, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette. They sell the plots at extremely cheap rates, he said. Al-Baqami said the branch municipalities in Briman and Um Al-Sulm have removed encroachments on government plots in Ajwad and Kilo 14 neighborhoods covering a total area of 33,000 square meters. Faisal Al-Malki, chairman of the Briman municipality, said: "We have retrieved government land with a total area of 22,000 square meters in Ajwad District alone. We pulled down with police support 14 walls that were built illegally around plots belonging to the government," he explained. He said municipality officials faced stiff resistance from citizens who wanted to delay the removal of encroachments. "We stood firmly and removed all violations. Nobody approached the municipality with legal documents proving ownership of the plots," he added. Thamir Al-Zahrani, chairman of Um Al-Sulm municipality, said his officials regained 13 plots covering a total area of 1,100 square meters, including enclosures and concrete structures, from land grabbers. Meanwhile, the municipality said it had foiled attempts to occupy government land totaling 1.068 million square meters in the Janoub area last month. Mohammed Al-Zahrani, chairman of Janoub branch municipality, said his officials had found enclosures, garbage dumbs, walls and buildings illegally constructed on public land covering a million square meters east of Al-Laith Road. "We have found another encroachment in Surouriya District of Al-Khumrah, covering an area of 50,000 square meters," he pointed out. Another individual had occupied 5,000 square meters of land in Malisaa while there was an illegal warehouse in Qouzain with an area of 13,000 square meters. "We have removed all these encroachments with the support of the police," Al-Zahrani said, adding that the municipality took action after receiving a tip-off from a citizen. In January this year, the municipality removed illegal occupation of land with a total area of 10.85 million square meters, Al-Baqami said. The encroachments were in Briman, Um Al-Sulm, Dahban, Thuwal and Janoub. The municipality has advised citizens that they should not purchase land from anyone without verifying deeds that prove ownership. It also asked the public to inform city officials about any illegal occupation of government land by individuals.
