MAKKAH — Makkah is going to witness the biggest real estate expropriation operation undertaken by any international city with the demolition of 26,000 properties, which include buildings and plots of land, by Oct. 13, 2015 (end of the Hijri year 1436H). Properties have been evaluated by the Real Estate Committee. These include those located on the first, second, third and fourth ring roads as well as the train and Grand Mosque projects and the King Abdulaziz Road project, representing 13,000 properties. About 10,000 properties have been appraised in Dahlat Al-Rushd and Jabal Al-Sharashif, which are expected to be demolished after Haj. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, emir of Makkah region and adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, announced that the Qowz Al-Nakasah area will also be developed after it was included in the urgent development plan. Qowz Al-Nakasah and Al-Zuhoor districts contain 2,000 properties. With these, the number of properties will reach 25,000. It was also announced that the modern transport projects will need 3,000 properties for which Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques has allocated SR60 billion. Last month, Prince Khaled instructed that all projects in the holy city should be completed on schedule. During a meeting, Makkah Mayor Osama Al-Bar, chairman of Al-Balad Al-Amin company's board, and members briefed the emir on the company's plan to develop several projects and their period of implementation. Al-Bar said the company undertakes design works of projects, approval and execution of major utility projects, including roads, drinking water, sewage, irrigation and power transmission. He said developing underdeveloped neighborhoods is the company's top priority. Developing the Al-Sharashif Mountain region is among them. The project, spread over an area of 1.7 million sq. meters, is located at an extension of Ibrahim Khaleel Road, 500 meters from the Grand Mosque.
