A large number of citizens heeded the warnings issued by the Holy Capital Secretariat not to be lured into purchasing land without legal deeds in fictitious development plans, and the Secretariat emphasized via its Twitter account that people should not purchase land that is not authorized for sale. Citizens viewed this step as effective and important for stopping land encroachment and the purchase of land in fictitious, unregulated, or unlicensed development projects promoted and traded by brokers.
The Al-Sarrafiyah Development Plan: A Model of Haphazard Development
In its warnings, the Municipality urged all citizens not to be misled by such rumors and not to buy, sell, or market land without valid legal documents, as this constitutes encroachment on government land, noting that a number of unlicensed plans—not approved by the Secretariat and lacking legal deeds—have been put forward. It singled out the Al-Sarrafiyah plan, located west of the Al-Nawariyah neighborhood in Makkah, as a prime example of encroachment on government land, The Municipality emphasized that it will take legal measures to enforce regulations against the encroachers and those marketing the land.
Recently, messages have been circulating promoting the development west of Makkah, claiming that sales have begun at reasonable prices, prompting the Municipality to issue this warning to protect citizens« rights and funds, so that such actions are not considered encroachments on government land.
»Occupying“ Land Does Not Grant the Right to Market It
For years, the Al-Umrah Sub-Municipality in Makkah and the other branches of the Holy Capital Municipality have been halting the sale and trading of land parcels in any of the informal developments where brokers—who profit from people’s ignorance andtheir defense—after seizing them from violators who specialize in seizing land and selling it to citizens through irregular means— which causes friction among a number of citizens and sparks widespread disputes that impose additional burdens on official authorities and lead to a long series of conflicts and legal proceedings.
The Holy Capital Secretariat has called on citizens not to be misled by those seeking to deceive them, in accordance with directives issued by the competent authorities, which emphasize the need to investigate these violations and remove any encroachments on state-owned land, and to intensify monitoring of all neighborhoods and residential developments to curb the spread of such negative phenomena.
Crackdown on Advertisements Promoting Illegal Developments
The phenomenon of unauthorized housing developments is widespread on the outskirts of Makkah, where plots of land are sold with documents, backed by real estate brokers, some of whom claim to own these developments through agricultural deeds, The Municipality limits itself to issuing warnings and alerting citizens to the risks of buying and selling such properties, especially since they are offered at reduced and attractive prices, while the municipality’s efforts are limited to cracking down on advertisements promoting these unauthorized land plots at traffic lights and along roads, confiscating them immediately, and imposing fines on official advertising agencies.
Informal developments are considered government-owned land; responsibility for their protection within urban areas lies with the sub-municipalities, and outside urban areas with the encroachment committees, whereas privately owned land is the responsibility of its owners.
