The cleanup task continues Monday in the flood-hit district of Umm Al-Khair in east Jeddah. (Okaz photo)JEDDAH: The Jeddah Mayor's Office has demarcated 53 residential zones consisting of 7,250 plots of land in the north and east of the city lying on flood courses identified by the Saudi Geological Survey. The figures are a result of a reduction in the width of the flood courses from 500 meters according to three categories: a width of 200 meters for main valley courses, 100 meters for secondary valleys, and 50 meters for primary valleys, bringing about a reduction in the number of residential zones conflicting with new surveys for flood course paths. The figures mean a reduction in the number of properties that will require demolition. Real estate observers have said that the price of one square meter of land in Jeddah is estimated at between SR300 and SR2,000 for properties of at least 400 sq. meters, with land prices on main streets having gone up to SR25,000 per meter in the central commercial area, and SR1,500 on modern roads. Real estate consultant Abdulillah Sadqa says he fears that the owners of demolished properties will not be sufficiently compensated, noting that land prices have gone up to due real estate speculation. “It's only common sense, then, that people are compensated according to current market prices,” he said. “Most owners of land in areas due for demolition are victims of uncontrolled and unplanned construction for which the mayoralty gave permission and people used bank loans to build. So it's unfair if the compensation they get matches that for remote residential areas that have no plans for services in the near future.” Realtor Shahwan Al-Shahyawain, said that the temporary halt to planned zones “makes no sense”. “It holds up works at these areas and badly affects their owners,” he said. “The way they have selected land in residential areas has been done randomly, and I think the way they remove those sites has also been done randomly and based on maps. The mayoralty should have looked at the reality on the ground.” Al-Shahyawain proposes a restructuring of Jeddah's streets and outskirts by removing them and building underpasses and drainage channels for rain and flood waters. He said that he was sure, however, that the owners of properties removed from flood courses identified by the authorities would be properly compensated. “We have no worries that the committees will conduct fair evaluations for land and will set compensation for removed property according to the instructions issued from the leader,” he said. Fahd Al-Barakati, another realtor, said he was confident that the planning of sites on flood courses and the drainage of rain waters would be “studied in the best way possible”. “The committees supervising the subject contain representatives from a variety of sectors,” he said. “I believe that compensation for land and residential zones that are removed for those projects will be in the form of commensurate material compensation and not through grants for alternative land sites.” Al-Barakati said that the price of land was currently low, particularly in the north and east of Jeddah, where the process of removal has had a significant effect on prices, reducing them by between 20 and 30 percent. “The prices should return to their normal levels gradually after the final touches have been put on the plans and the sites for the rain and flood drainage works are announced,” he said.
