The mayor of Makkah has sworn to take to court “land thieves” who have encroached on vacant property belonging to the government or private individuals. “The mayoralty will not stand idly by in the face of land encroachments, and will not just content itself with demolishing illegally built premises but will pursue through court and law anyone who has held up essential development projects because they've taken land that is not theirs,” said Mayor Osama Al-Bar on Tuesday. Al-Bar cited land encroachments at several areas that had caused delays to a “large number” of plans and had led to the failure to complete infrastructure work and other services, and reiterated orders from the Emir of Makkah Prince Khaled Al-Faisal. “The Emir's instructions continually reaffirm the importance of demolishing encroaching properties and preserving and monitoring unused land, as well as supporting businessmen who consolidate their investments and provide through their projects hundreds of thousands of job opportunities to Saudis,” Al-Bar said. The mayor said that recent rulings had gone a long way to “closing the loophole by which public land thieves operated in Makkah”. “The mayoralty is in a good position at the moment, and the threat to public land has subsided,” he said. Mayor Al-Bar made the remarks while inspecting the plans for Hira Industrial Trade Estate, a project costing SR125 million and whose first phase of construction is on course for completion within three months. The complete works, which are expected to be finished by the end of the year, will create 20,000 jobs.
