A businessman has turned the only park in Al-Safa 5 District here into a seven-story residential building. The move has annoyed several citizens who consider the move contrary to the promise by the city mayor to prevent granting title deeds on public parks. The residents of the district dreamt to grow trees and plants in the only public park in their midst but their dream was shattered one fine morning when they woke up to find the park becoming a privately owned property. The park is located between Prince Muhammad Bin Abdul Aziz and Umm Al-Qura streets near the storm water channel. It has an area of 2,800 square meters. The district's residents had hopes it would be full of trees and children's games. The mayoralty had actually started growing trees in it. It also signed a contract with Saudi Telecom Company (STC) to erect a mobile telephone tower. All these continued for just six months. The residents were all of a sudden shocked to see the trees uprooted and the tower demolished. They were told the plot was now privately owned. Abdullah Al-Sulami, a long time resident of the district, said the action contravenes the promises by Jeddah mayor not to implement land grants on public parks. “Despite this we were surprised that the public park was razed though it was the only recreation area in the district as per maps of the area since 1974. The businessman, only identified as S.A., defended his action and denied that the public park was issued to him as a grant. He stressed that he bought it from its previous owner at a huge amount exceeding SR7 million. He further said that if the park had been granted to its previous owner the matter does not concern him because he purchased the plot of land and obtained a construction permit. All these confirm that the deal was legal, he emphasized. A source from Jeddah mayoralty confirmed the businessman's assertion. He said the plot of land was previously issued as a grant and the grant owner sold it to a businessman who in turn sold it to another businessman. The latter obtained a permit to construct a seven-story building on the plot, he said.
