A dangerous showdown looms between the authorities and Al-Ruwais residents, most of whom are refusing to leave what they say is the land of their grandfathers, who they claim, received a Royal Decree in February 1955 recognizing their ownership. “King Abdul Aziz and King Saud, Allah bless their souls, acknowledged that this is our land and provided all infrastructure services to us. Our houses are registered by legitimate deeds and we received loans from the Real Estate Bank to renovate our houses. The banks never give loans to build unplanned areas,” Emad Amr, a property owner of the area, told the Saudi Gazette. In 2008 Jeddah Mayoralty signed a contract with Jeddah Development Corporation and Al-Ruwais Alliance Company to establish Ruwais Global Development Company. They have been working to acquire Ruwais properties as part of a project to develop Jeddah's unplanned districts. “We are not handing over the title deeds to our land no matter what,” said Theab Bin Sa'ed, another resident. “We are not leaving. We are not going to abandon our grandfathers' land,” said Ra'ad Abdul Aziz, a resident.Owners and residents refuse to describe their neighborhood as random and unplanned. They stressed that they inherited their properties from their forefathers who had been living there for more than 300 years. Ruwais residents will be without electricity and water from April 9 as the authorities will cut all essential services to the area as part of the development project. “Jeddah Mayoralty has sold us to businessmen.They want to deport us from the heart of Jeddah to the edges of the city at Asfan,” said Emad Amr, a property owner of the area, who claimed that the development project wrongly described their houses as unplanned. What will the owner of a four-story building on a 100-square-meter plot of land do with the small amount of compensation, asked Theab Bin Sa'ed. “The development of poor areas means creating green landscapes, expanding streets, lightening pavements, asphalting etc. But acquisition of properties is not acceptable,” he added. Emad said that officials at the development company told a delegation of Ruwais residents, who went to lodge a complaint with them, that it was the government's project and they had to vacate the area. “We refuse to call this a government project; this is investment,” Emad added. Ra'ad said that the mayoralty relied on a Royal Decree that asked it to develop the poor areas as soon as possible, but they shut their eyes to the fact that the King ordered them to invest in humans not land. The King's decree was clearly urging a solution to social and security issues in these areas not neglecting them by moving people out of their houses, he claimed. Saudi Gazette could not reach officials in the two companies involved in the project: Jeddah Development and Urban Regeneration Co. and Raysan Arabia despite their claim that their doors are open for the media. The Jeddah Development Co. said in its website that the unplanned settlement in Ruwais has been one of Jeddah's most rundown areas suffering from many social, environmental and financial problems. The developing partner admitted in its official website www.ruwaisjeddah.com that their project in Ruwais is very important because of its unique location in the heart of Jeddah and being near the seaport.n Tomorrow: Options for residents __
