JEDDAH — The Administrative Court of the Board of Grievances in Jeddah has ordered the Jeddah mayoralty to pay a higher compensation to a number of citizens for land it had bought from them 33 years ago. The land was used to build King Abdulaziz International Airport. In its eight verdicts against the mayoralty, the court said the disputed plots of land should be assessed based on current values. The court said it considered the mayoralty's attitude and delay in compensating the plaintiffs as an injustice. The mayoralty's representative said he would appeal the verdict on the grounds that the mayoralty did not benefit from the expropriated land, but the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) did. The GACA produced title deeds to the court showing that it owned these plots but the court rejected them, as the plaintiffs had deeds older than the ones in the authority's possession.
