Several real estate owners in favor of the Al-Shamiah expansion project in Makkah have objected to the mechanism used to appraise 1,000 properties 90% of which were torn down over the past three months. The committee has valued the property at between SR15,000 and SR20,000 and granted owners the option of filing their complaints to the Board of Grievances, should they refuse to sign an agreement to have their property appraised. Landowners said their property, less than 250 meters from the Holy Mosque, was drastically undervalued by the appraisal committee. According to landowners, other property located farther away from the mosque was appraised for greater values reaching SR 50,000 per meter. They asserted that they would challenge the land appraisal before the Board of Grievances. Sharif Mansour Abou Riyash, Chairman of the Real Estate Committee at the Chamber of Comerce and member of the Appraisal Committee said that the property valued at SR15,000 per meter is situated in an area inhabited by overstayers. “We have done everything we can to appraise these buildings in favor of owners despite their being located in unpopular areas and have taken other factors into consideration to achieve this purpose, such as overlooking the Holy Mosque, or a location on a back street which leads to a main one, or the existence of car parks, favoring these buildings over the ones where cars are unable to reach”, he said. Abou Riyash said a royal decree has been issued related to the discrepancy in appraisals versus the landowners. “Owners may file an objection with the Board of Grievances within 30 days of the notice of appraisal which they received,” he said. __
