Mohammed Al-Madiheim, General Supervisor of the Vacant Land Fees Program at the Ministry of Housing, revealed that the ministry intends to impose fines on those who are late in paying the fees on their land, noting that the fines are divided into two types (the first for those who are six months late in registering for the program, and the second for failure to pay the fees within the specified 12-month period).

He explained that the ministry will use the revenue from these fees for housing projects and to provide services and utilities to those areas. Al-Madiheim noted that it is difficult to determine the expected amount of the fees at this time.

He added that the calculation of fees for undeveloped land is based on several criteria in accordance with the regulations, and there are two committees: the first for land valuation and the second for appeals, which is responsible for identifying the violations upon which the land values were calculated.

The Ministry of Housing is expected to issue bills for undeveloped land fees starting next week in Riyadh, followed by the issuance of bills in Jeddah and Dammam.

Last December, the Ministry completed the first phase of unregistered land registration in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. The dedicated online portal for unregistered land registration received 1,792 registrations, while the number of registration applications reached 2,278, covering a total area of 635 million square meters.