MCI Real Estate Committee ended on Monday 24/11/1434 AH, corresponding to 30/09/2013 its public auction to sell Makkah land lot of Salah Al-Niffaisi, at Palace Hall, in Hilton Jeddah, for SR 1. 197 billion for the consortium of the Aqarat for Development Co and Sumow Real Estates.
This was considered to be one of the most awaited auctions, due to the size of the scheme as well as the number of its contributors of more than 6 thousand.
The Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr. TAWFIG FAWZAN ALRABIAH , who is also the Chairman of the committee
announced that the scheme of Makkah lot has been liquidated and that it is a part of Salah Al-Niffaissi's schemes, among a number of them, which have been delegated to the committee to solve them.
The committee, he added, has received this scheme, 7 months ago and it was sold yesterday, as 10 % of the value of the sold lot has been collected, provided that the remainder will be fully paid, following 3 months. As we administered the scheme, we have begun with gathering all money and the contributors in the scheme, appoint a chartered accountant to audit all accountancy related aspects, another account to collect all schemes, the minister stated, pointing out that the committee was keen to apply transparency and impartiality, as it refused to accept pre-auction offers, as it was insisting that the sale shall not take place, unless within an auction, to guarantee application of transparency and fairness, in the process, he reaffirmed.
Al-Rabia'ah emphasized that the committee and its staff are not paid, even SR 1, for the tasks, as they are state ex-officio and that it is set forth that the committee is allocated a 5 per cent to cover the costs of accounts, ads and organizing of auctions.
It is very difficult to gather all real estate schemes, he pointed out, as there are very tiny and too old ones. There are also so many reasons behind stalling of these schemes, as the bulk of them have been stalled, despite their owners' wills, due to deeds and transgressions' related problems.
He made it clear that MCI exerting its best endeavor to solve them, however. To the contrary, there are manipulated schemes, which we firmly dealt with and we will apply all regulations as we litigated a wide group, suspended banking accounts and imposed travel ban against them, he noted.
We are still going on that path, as, up to now, we have not lose any lawsuit and as we move, in line with the recommendation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to maintain citizens' rights, he confirmed.
On classifying and categories of contributors in the scheme, he announced that the committee is still considering it, to reach the best mean of distributing it and that the committee will require the help of judicial experts, in order that all rights will be maintained, indicating that MCI will not be lenient in carrying out the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' relating to liquidation of stalled real estate schemes and refunding of contributors' equities.
MCI will strictly apply the directives, he reiterated, against those who are manipulating the rights of contributors or anyone who is caught with trickery and deception practices and/or hampering the workings of the committee, as he shall be legally, wanted.
On the value of the lot, the minister concluded that the appeal of the auction has been above the expectations and assessments put forward by real estates' evaluation firms, prior to the auction.
Coming to the event, the auction has witnessed a fierce competition to win the lot of land, as more than 20 consortiums and alliances have begun the auction at SR 700 for 1 sq. m., made by Tharwa and the First company, then the auction went for more than an hour, up to the awarding of it to Aqarat and Sumou companies at SR 1230 for 1 sq. m.
The Real Estate Committee which overseen the auction, included Dr. Al-Rabia'ah the minister, Dr. Khalid Al Dauwd, representing the Ministry of Justice, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Jadhei, Dr. Ahmed Al-Mighamis, Abdulaziz Al-Ghamdi, its Secretary General Hamza Al-Askar and the representative of the Executing Magistrate of the General Court, at Makkah.