NE'AIRIAH: A government official in Al-Ne'airiah Governorate barred the Encroachments Committee from razing land he claims to own in the flood course in Al-Sarar and said he has owned the land for decades and is working to revive it, according to transactions the municipality is studying. The Civil Defense has observed that the landowner has blocked two culverts, which could cause a disaster if there is rainfall. ?Muhammad Al-Qahtani, chairman of the Encroachments Committee in Al-Ne'airiah Governorate, said his organization ordered the removal of changes made by the man who said he owns the land and investigations are underway to verify the validity of documents he said authorized him to take possession of the property.? ? “The Encroachments Committee will raze the changes he made if we confirm that this man does not hold official documents, according to the law, especially since the old grants are not considered valid unless the land has long been revived,” Al-Qahtani said. ?Lt. Col. Abdullah Naif Bin Hathlain, director of Civil Defense, said his administration would not allow anyone to place obstacles on the flood route.? ?Bin Hathlain stressed the necessity to benefit from lessons learned from previous floods, “as it is illogical that we are subjected to disasters and crises by people placing such obstacles without any studied decision”.? A source told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that Al-Sarar Municipality plans to start removing encroachments because they are situated in government property officials plan to use for parks, a ring road and flood culverts.? Abdul Lateef Al-Maghrabi, director of the Ministry of Agriculture branch, said the government official alleges that he has owned the land for a long time and has spent a large amount of money to take care of it. ? “The official stresses that he rebuilt on the land despite razing structures as earlier directed by the Encroachments Committee due to the existence of an existing transaction in the municipality. The official relinquished parts of the land in favor of municipal services projects,” Al-Maghrabi said.? He said that the government official has no objection to cooperating with the Civil Defense observations about the culverts and obstruction of the flood route. The first culvert is open and there is a gap of 15 meters between it and a building; the second is closed and the Civil Defense said it should be demolished because it is in an urban area. Al-Maghrabi said the land problem is still being studied at Al-Sarar Municipality, which is 55 kilometers away from Al-Ne'airiah Governorate. He stressed that an official decision has not been issued.
