Twenty years have passed since the construction of 1136 villas of the Rusaifa Housing Project was completed and yet until today none of them have been occupied. Local citizens are divided over how these villas should be utilized. Some support the Ministry of Finance's suggestion that a real estate agent should put up the aging villas for auction. Others say the Real Estate Bank (REB) should allocate the villas to beneficiaries according to their priority of application. A third group believes it is better to distribute the villas to those whose houses have been acquired in expansion plans. Qais Al-Ahmadi is one who supports the notion that the REB distributes the villas to beneficiaries instead of selling them. “I personally prefer to live in one of these villas instead of living in a rented apartment. As you know, rents have gone up from SR12,000 to SR30,000 in a matter of few years. Why let all these villas go to waste?” Abdullah Ahmad refuses to live in a villa that has not been occupied for 20 years. It might be haunted with evil spirits, he said. Hassan Al-Shareef wondered why the villas were not distributed to Makkah citizens at the time they were built, just like in Al-Ahsa, Dammam and Al-Qatif. Salim Nasser stressed the importance of taking action by concerned authorities to allow limited-income families to benefit from these villas instead of leaving them the way they are. “Why not distribute them to those whose houses have been expropriated? Right now the villas have become a refuge for stray dogs.” Al-Shareef Mansour Abu Rayash, a realtor, believes that the villas should be put up for auction. He expects each villa to fetch SR1.5 million, given the current price of real estate property in Makkah. The Ministry of Finance is considering a broker to auction these villas after renovations. A committee headed by Abdul Rahman Al-Saeed, director of Makkah-based Real Estate Development Fund, has been formed to auction these villas. The long-standing vacant project consists of 1136 villas, four schools for boys and girls, two mosques, a healthcare center and municipal services such as sanitary drainage and street lighting. It is expected that utilization of this project will somewhat ease the housing crisis in the holy city. __
