Saudi property authority says 800 sq km of govt land undeveloped

The State Properties General Authority (SPGA) found out that almost 800 square kilometers (sq km) of land plots allocated to government authorities have remained undeveloped “white lands”, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper reported, citing SPGA’s Governor, Ihsan Bafakih.

Excluding the land plots allocated by city governorates, there have been “very limited efforts” to generate yields, or boost the state properties’ general budget, Bafakih said.

Accordingly, SPGA will assume its executive role to enhance productivity and efficiency, improve the quality of the state properties and overcome the related challenges.

The authority aims to generate yields from undeveloped assets to enhance their value by offering investment opportunities under public-private partnerships (PPP).

On the other hand, the SPGA statistics showed that more than 20,000 properties were leased to government sectors by the end of 2019.

SPGA’s mandate was expanded to include the state’s overseas assets, Bafakih explained, adding that the reference of those assets was unified to assess and sell untapped assets through global firms.