Residents of Khuzam District have handed over more than 3,000 property title deeds, some of which comprise more than one property. This was disclosed here on Friday by Adel Faqih, Mayor of Jeddah. He pointed out that the percentage of those who did not hand over title deeds is very small. The properties will be appropriated for a major development project in the area and owners will be compensated accordingly. Faqih said there are a large number of properties without legal title deeds. He added that whoever refuses to hand over his legal documents will delay the processing of his papers. Faqih pointed out that a comprehensive survey has recently been completed of all the properties in the area to be developed and a committee has started specifying all the land required for development projects which will be completed by the middle of this year. The mayor said the vacating of residential properties will be carried out at a later stage after giving residents sufficient time to find new accommodation. He said they would be given the choice of participating in the project by receiving shares worth the value of their property as estimated by the Committee for Evaluating Real Estate or selling their property to the company carrying out the project. The mayor further said the project would begin in Al-Balad District followed by Al-Sabeel, Al-Nuzlah and finally Al-Gurayyat. Faqih denied reports that some residents have refused to hand over their title deeds. He said that even if some residents fail to cooperate, this will not delay the project since great importance is being attached to developing the districts to provide services, upgrade the standard of environmental health and improve security, economy and health of the area. Faqih further said that there is an impartial committee composed of five experts, whose function is to assess property and specify its price per square meter. As to differences in the mechanism for the evaluation of Khuzam Project and Al-Balad Project, he said: “The downtown (Al-Balad) area is not the same as other districts. Therefore, it has its own system of property evaluation.” As to the objection by residents of Al-Nuzlah District to reports that the mayoralty has said that most of the district's residents are expatriates, he said, “We have prepared reports according to the results of the 2004 census, which showed that the population of Al-Nuzlah Al-Yamaniah is 56,000 of whom 49 percent are Saudis while the population of Al-Nuzlah Al-Sharqiah is 23,000 of whom only 37 percent are Saudis.
