2,327 applications for land ownership rejected

MUSCAT, March 6 - A total of 2,327 applications for land ownership in different governorates were rejected by the Ministry of Housing for lack of enough documents to prove their claims. “These lands will be taken over by the government and will be subjected to re-survey so that they can be distributed to eligible citizens,” said Adel bin Saeed al Qarni, Director of Legal Department at the Ministry of Housing. According to Al Qarni, the ministry received a total of 19,000 applications for ownership verification and registration from different governorates.

While 13,319 applications were inspected and verified by the registration committee, 7,528 ownership rights were granted to eligible citizens. Al Qarni warned against using the land for any purpose after rejection of ownership claims by the committee that deals with the applications. “This will be considered as encroachment on the government land,” he warned, adding, “the municipalities concerned will be informed about the cases to take appropriate legal action against the violators.” At the same time, he said, if any kind of mistakes are found in the verification process of their application, he/she can approach the authorities with a complaint to get their claims verified.

According to data from the ministry, the Al Dakhiliyah Governorate witnessed the highest percentage of applications with 3,669 followed by Al Dhahirah with 3,030. South Al Batinah received 2,659 applications, Al Buraimi 230, Muscat 1,315, North Al Batinah 1,164, North Al Sharqiyah 2,468, Dhofar 344, South Al Sharqiyah 2,343 and Al Wusta 1,393 applications. Al Qarni said ownership registration and verification committees were set up in all the governorates in accordance with the new law. “These committees verify the applications, study their legalities and take appropriate decisions”, he added.

Meanwhile, the number of schemes approved by the ministry represented by the technical committee in charge of the interim urban planning mechanism in 2018 reached 105. Under the schemes, a total of 38,596 land plots of various uses including, parks, playgrounds, schools, public and private clinics and mosques as well as residential, commercial, industrial and other uses were distributed in different governorates. Muscat Governorate received four schemes in 579 land plots of various uses, while Al Dakhiliyah was provided with a total of 15,627 land plots in 30 schemes. South Al Batinah has 10 schemes in 2,147 plots, North Batinah got 1,136 land plots under four schemes. of various uses. South Al Sharqiyah and North Al Sharqiyah received 3,721 and 6,395 land plots of various uses, respectively.