Housing Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail revealed that the aim of applying fees on white lands at an amount not exceeding (100 riyals) per square meter is to encourage owners to develop their lands to limit the phenomenon of horizontal expansion of cities and provide land of various sizes suitable for different categories of society to build housing while seeking to maintain the balance between supply and demand, and reduce government spending resulting from housing expansion.
Housing Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail revealed that the application of fees on white lands in an amount not exceeding (100 riyals) per square meter. A committee will be formed under his chairmanship and with the membership of a number of relevant authorities to develop the appropriate mechanism to apply the fees and follow up their implementation, and determine the cities in which the fee program will be applied in each phase and the areas of land that will be covered by the program.
The Minister of Housing explained that the fees will be applied after studying it in the Shura Council to complete the statutory procedures for that. The Minister of Housing Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail explained in press statements that the imposition of fees on white lands constitutes a great support for citizens to obtain housing units and a vital engine and catalyst for the real estate market in the Kingdom, expressing his great optimism about the fruits of this regulation, which is applied by a number of countries around the world and achieves great positive results in the development and investment of unused white lands and introduce them to the real estate market by development and investment.
Hogail added that the fees on white lands constitute a great support for citizens to obtain housing units and a vital engine and catalyst for the real estate market in the Kingdom. He added: The fees also aim to stimulate the creation of suitable housing at affordable prices for all citizens according to a strategy that includes increasing the supply in the center of cities that are monopolized by investors in the real estate sector and make the cost of acquiring them unfeasible and facilitate the ownership of a suitable home for the citizen in a suitable place at an affordable price.
The minister said that the decision to impose the fees is in line with a number of other countries in the world. The minister said that the decision encourages the initiatives of landowners in building and financing developers, giving an appropriate period for planning and construction, establishing a center for developers under the management of the Ministry of Housing through which to prepare the nucleus of the Real Estate Authority, and regulating this important decision in what serves the citizen and investor, as well as establishing a follow-up mechanism by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs to measure the positive impact of the decision on the citizen in finding solutions to housing issues.
The Minister of Housing stressed that the decision encourages the initiatives of landowners in building and financing developers, and giving an appropriate period for planning and construction. The Minister of Housing stressed that a flexible and gradual methodology will be followed in the application of fees on white lands, by reviewing the related policy and regulations periodically in order to maintain the efficiency of the program and the sustainability of its benefits to citizens, noting that the evaluation will include measuring the actual effects on the interaction of landowners in development, down to the indirect effects on the national economy.
The Minister of Housing said that the evaluation will include measuring the actual effects on the interaction of landowners in development, down to the indirect effects on the national economy.
