The White Land Program announced the registration of 4 lands in the city of Riyadh and the Dammam metropolitan area with a total area of 2.3 million square meters, after monitoring their non-registration in the system within the first phase, which deals with undeveloped "raw" lands with an area of 10,000 square meters or more, located within the scope announced in the cities where the system was implemented.
The program explained in a press release that lands that are monitored and registered by the program – and not by their owner – will be subject to a penalty for not registering the land, in addition to imposing the fees due on the land retroactively, within the framework of the program’s objective to enhance the real estate supply of lands and contribute to creating a balanced real estate market.
The program indicated that many of the lands subject to fees have been developed during the past period in the targeted cities, stressing that the application of fees achieves its goals through the interaction of owners of raw lands by developing them, and that part of the revenues imposed during the past period were spent on developing the infrastructure in a number of housing projects in all regions of the Kingdom, as stipulated in the executive regulations of the “White Lands” program.
The program confirmed that fees are not applied when the land development is completed by final approval of the plan or construction within one year from the date of issuance of the payment order (invoice) on it, with the aim of stimulating development and increasing the supply of developed land, and achieving balance in the sector in a way that benefits citizens.
It is worth mentioning that the program's implementation phases have become 3 phases after the Cabinet approved the amendment to the program's regulations. The first phase included undeveloped lands with an area of 10,000 m2 or more for one owner. The second phase included developed lands with an area of 10,000 m2 or more for one or more owners, in addition to the total developed lands for one owner with an area of 10,000 m2 or more in one approved plan. The third phase includes developed lands with an area of 5,000 m2 or more for one owner or a group of owners, and the total developed lands for one owner with an area of 10,000 m2 or more in one city. All phases are implemented within the urban area determined by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing.
