THOSE who are aware of how municipalities in big cities were earlier functioning won't find it strange to read that 111 parks were restored to municipality ownership out of 500 that had been illegally acquired and encroached upon. Investigations have proved that businessmen and real estate brokers were involved in facilitating the takeover of these areas that belong to citizens for relaxation and recreation. Many areas of such parks were illegally acquired and incorporated into the private palaces and villas of western Jeddah. The practice isn't strange because many of us have heard such stories before. Meanwhile, many others among us have actually witnessed illegal encroachment of common park land in the district they live in. Instead of seeing trees and shrubs planted in the park, the land has been stolen. Anyone can see that the lack of government schools in some districts is actually due to the illegal takeovers of land. A big plot of land, allocated for a government school for boys or girls, is suddenly divided into smaller plots, sold as residential plots of land and developed into residences for private sale. In this way, a district is deprived of a park, school, polyclinic, or many other services and facilities badly needed by the residents of the district. The matter is worrying. It shows that we are swimming in a lake of corruption, bribes and the circumvention of regulations. The important questions are: how can these issues be dealt with? How can we uproot and eradicate this abuse and misuse? What does the restoration of these parks mean? Will the areas of stolen land be reacquired from these places and villas to be allocated for parks? Will the value of every square meter of stolen land be calculated at the current price of land, along with the rent for all these years during which it was exploited? Will those who usurped these plots of land be taken to court along with the people who facilitated this matter, whether they are beneficiaries or those who abused the power granted to them? Have the regulations been improved and tightened so that this type of theft can be prevented from reoccurring? Is supervision now adequate? Readers may ask if this land theft is confined to Jeddah only? Or have the violations in Jeddah been clearer than in other cities in the Kingdom? I believe that most cities, municipalities and districts have also seen similar illegal activity as Jeddah Municipality has suffered over the past due to weak supervision of the performance of these bodies. These authorities took advantage of weak supervision to abuse their powers. They were previously controlling state-owned land in different parts of the country. It is true that we are in a different era, and supervision and monitoring can be discerned at all times. However, that is not enough, People who have stolen public land and have taken advantage of their posts should be taken to task. There are people who can deceive using new methods to carry out similar illegal practices. Meting out penalties against those who steal land and naming and shaming them will deter others who might be tempted to also make such illegal gains.
