Prince Mish'al Bin Majed Bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Jeddah, has directed Jeddah Mayoralty to provide plots of land for government facilities including health, education and security and Civil Defense in all undeveloped districts in the city. Sources estimate the needs for these facilities at more than 1,000 plots of land on which they will construct their centers. About 80 percent of the centers of these agencies are functioning from rented buildings. In this framework, Adel Faqih, Mayor of Jeddah, and heads of departments held a meeting last Sunday with the objective of exchanging information about available plots of land and their areas. Khalid Oqail, Deputy Mayor of Jeddah, said the plots of land available include thsoe owned by the government which can only be bought for government agencies. He said in case these plots of land are owned by the mayoralty then the authorities concerned would relinquish them to other government agencies as their needs are more than that of the mayoralty. “But in case they belong to the private sector then the government will expropriate the plots of lands and compensate their owners.” Meanwhile, Dr. Sami Badawood, Director of Health Affairs in Jeddah, said his administration needs 50 plots of land in Jeddah for construction of public health centers in all the city's districts. For his part, Abdul Kareem Al-Huqail, Director of Girls' Education in Jeddah, said so far the administration needs about 200 plots of land to build schools noting that a committee has been formed to look for plots of land. The committee will buy more than 59 plots from the owners on which 75 schools and complexes would be constructed. He said upon completion of these new buildings the ministry will vacate 115 rented buildings by the end of next year. The administration now is renting 300 buildings and using them as schools.
