A recent Shoura Council report shows that 216 sq. km of Jeddah consists of unplanned areas – created largely by criminals who have exploited loopholes in the system and preyed on unsuspecting buyers. This size of unplanned areas rose from 3.3 million sq. meters in the year 2000 to 29.2 million sq. meters in 2008 due to illegal encroachment on government land, the report said. The report shows how criminals have used temporary ownership titles, that still have to be approved by the court, to sell this land to the public. Many buyers have also not waited for final and official approval of their land purchase from the court before purchasing. The court only grants its final approval for purchase after the approval of many government offices. The sales of government-encroached land have, however, decreased following a royal order to tighten the grip on government land and counter any encroachment attempt. The city of Makkah alone has 66 unplanned districts built on encroached government land. In Jizan, the government has tackled the unplanned district problem by removing people from about 60 percent of the Al-Oshayma District. Some residents have been compensated with land plots in several residential areas. However, there is still a backlog for land, with a total of 403,000 applications pending, mostly from citizens from low income groups. The report added that encroachers are continuing to rebuild on the same land after the buildings have been demolished, without any “fear or deterrent.” It was difficult for the Encroachment Removal Committees to tackle the problem because it did not have the human and financial resources to deal with the issue, especially considering the vast tracts of land involved, the report said. It added that within five years, temporary ownership titles issued by the court in Madina gave ownership of a total of more than 70 million sq. meters of properties. The owners used their temporary land titles to build their own permanent homes, the report said, urging an immediate review of the current court system of ordering temporary ownership titles. The report said that the current system allows for easy issue of temporary land titles, which might never be approved by many government offices. “The court should take its time in reviewing land ownership before giving out any form of ownership titles.” The report stated that encroachment was taking place because of a number of reasons, including the fact that mayoralties did not plan properly; and the lack of available residential land lots. Another reason is many investors' desire to make quick money by obtaining the ownership of the land from the courts and then selling it to the public. The investors could claim ownership to a government land on some Islamic basis such as “bringing life to a deserted area.” There is no clear-cut law to determine the private ownership of government land, the report added, encouraging “greedy” investors to claim as much land as possible amid an increased demand and high prices of land plots.
