Mohammed Ahmed Al-Hassani Okaz newspaper Hundreds of villas in Makkah were built about 20 years ago but left without being completed. The villas were built for distribution among the low-income citizens of Makkah. The residents of the holy city were waiting for the day when these villas would be distributed among them similar to what happened in other parts of the Kingdom. Nothing of the sort, however, happened in Makkah. When they pass by the unfinished buildings, the Makkawis feel pained. They had hoped so much that the villas would be given to them. Many of them died before they saw their dream come true. Anxious to receive the villas, the Makkawis told the concerned authorities that they would accept the villas as they were — in the incomplete state. They were hoping that the Ministry of Housing would give them loans to finish the works themselves. The Makkawis, however, were in for a further shock. The villas had been sold in an open auction. Some rich persons bought as many as 10 or 20 of them. Nothing was left for the eligible low-income citizens. The auction was not limited to the residents of Makkah alone. Many wealthy people from various parts of the Kingdom participated. They bought all the villas that were specifically built for the low-income citizens of the holy city. Before the auction was conducted, many appeals were made to the Housing Ministry not to go ahead with this auction. The Makkawis showered the ministry with cables imploring it not to sell the villas in an open auction. They also wrote in the newspapers appealing to the ministry not to sell the villas, which were specially built for the poor and needy among them. All their pleas fell on a deaf ear. The ministry completely disregarded their appeals and went ahead with its plans. All the villas were sold. None was left for the eligible residents. Now we hear that the ministry is looking for empty lands in various towns and cities to construct buildings, towers, villas and housing units for the low-income citizens who are in dire need for accommodation. Thousands of low-income citizens are on the ministry's waiting lists. They are still hoping that the ministry would provide them with accommodation. Many of them are, however, skeptical that the ministry would provide them with units, and it may rather sell these new buildings in an open auction as it did with the Makkah villas. The ministry's logic is that it is more profitable to sell the houses and distribute their proceeds among a few number of the eligible citizens. By doing so, the ministry will be abandoning its main objectives of being a housing government facility. It will, instead, become an investment ministry.
