Owners of acquired properties around the Grand Mosque are still waiting for financial compensation despite repeated promises made by relevant authorities during the last four months. Residents of Shamiyyah, Falaq, Madee, Souq Al-Layl, parts of Jebel Hindi, and Raqouba districts have left their houses, as essential services like water, electricity, sewage and communications have been cut off in these areas. Makkah Mayoralty and its committees for development of Holy Haram's northern wing, and Estimation Committee of Expropriated Property are still trying to fix specific dates for paying compensation. But problems like discrepancy in the date of some ownership deeds or houses with no deeds to prove ownership are coming in the way of speedy compensation, sources told Al-Hayat Arabic daily. Mastoura Al-Qahtani, owner of an acquired property in Shameyyah District, expressed her anger at the shabby treatment of Makkah mayoralty toward her regarding compensation. “How could the mayoralty, and the committees of removal and estimation, throw us and our children on the street without giving us not a single riyal. We cannot afford food and medicine, either,” she said. “We are fed up with promises. Since we were forced to leave our homes, we have been waiting every morning for our rights,” she said. Jameel Kassar, another owner, said the mayoralty and its committees should have given us compensation before getting people out of their homes. “Some of the owners cannot afford transportation and are living well below the poverty line,” he said. However, Makkah Mayor, Dr. Osamah Fadl Al-Bar, said the main obstacle in compensation for Shameyyah District residents is deed documents that are either missing or inadequate to prove the right ownership. The head of the Real Estate Committee at Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a member in the Estimation Committee, Mansour Abu Rayyash, said the wronged property owners could move the courts or the Board of Grievances. __
