MAKKAH: A government committee is investigating what are thought to be cases of prominent people getting the majority of land grants intended for people with limited incomes, according to a source. One list included the names of 27 officials and their sons who obtained the land grants, the source said. Names on the lists include two former mayors, a former emirate undersecretary, businessmen, and leading officials at Makkah Mayoralty and executive government agencies, the source added. The lists show that prominent businessmen and officials obtained the lion's share of the estimated 3,000 land grants on the Crown Prince's Land Plot, which were recently distributed, according to the source. The lists also included 50 repeated names of citizens, which is a flagrant violation of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs' rules and regulations governing the distribution of land grants, according to the source. Ministry's rules stipulate that people are only eligible for one land grant. A senior official at the Makkah Mayoralty who spoke on condition of anonymity told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that there were no encroachments on the land grants it issued, but he failed to take a clear stand regarding lists of recent grants that included the names of senior officials. Some grants are made by Royal Orders and come through the Ministry and in such cases, the role of the Makkah Mayoralty is to execute the order, he said. Citing an example, he said if an order grants a person a plot of land measuring 900 square meters, authorities must execute the order and grant the land to beneficiary. Regarding land grants supervised by the Makkah Mayoralty, he said those are municipal and carried out without favoritism. Those grants pass through official channels and a central system directly linked to the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, which shows that there is no possibility of tampering or favoritism, he said. It should be understood that the procedures are fully computerized so there is no possibility of cheating because the system is capable of uncovering any illegalities, he said. People should understand this and not raise unfounded allegations, he added. Addressing the delay in releasing the lists of the grants, the official said, “Within three months, all the delayed lists will be released; the lists include 33,000 land grants, which will put an end to the grants crisis in Makkah.”
