MAKKAH — Ihsan Bafakih, governor of the State Properties General Authority (SPGA), said that seven title deeds (sukuk) have been issued for slums spreading over a total area exceeding 3.78 million square meters in Makkah and Jeddah. These included two sukuk for the Quz Al-Nakasa and Al-Kidwa neighborhoods in Makkah, and five sukuk for Gulail and Petromin neighborhoods in the Jeddah governorate. Attending a dialogue session at the Real Estate Makers Forum, organized by the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bafakih said that SPGA has been instrumental in addressing the challenges and problems that faced 10 development projects and housing schemes in a number of regions across the Kingdom. He added, some of which are in Makkah such as Jabal Omar Project, King Abdulaziz Road, in addition to Quz Al-Nakasa, and Al-Kidwa. "These projects faced challenges and obstacles that stood in the way of their completion, and among these challenges and obstacles were the overlap of private real estate properties with government properties, and the absence of title deeds to a number of sites. "The authority studied these obstacles and came up with innovative solutions that contributed to put these development projects on the right track, by issuing unified sukuk for each of these projects," he said. He praised the cooperation and integration of the government system that has a great impact in achieving common strategic goals and achieving sustainable development of state real estate. Bafakih said that meeting the needs of government agencies for real estate, including plots of land and buildings, is one of the main tasks that the authority is working on according to strategic initiatives that contribute to achieving the optimal use of state real estate, and raise its production and economic efficiency. "More than 324 million square meters have been allocated from the land that were owned by 24 government agencies during the year 2021, while 64 decisions were issued to allocate to meet the real estate needs of the government agencies. "These included the ministries of education, health, environment, water and agriculture, culture, sports, energy, human resources, justice, interior, National Guard, commerce and communications. "This is in addition to Public Investment Fund, the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence, the Eastern Region Development Authority, and the Madinah Region Development Authority," he added.
