Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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In Huraimla, to encourage and expedite the transfer of new residential, commercial,
industrial growth to Al-Hazm area, the municipal staff stepped up their efforts to win royal
approval to give out free lots to the public. Because land lying immediately within the
vicinity of the old town was essentially private and mired in complex property rights, and
because of their rising prices, the transfer of new growth to Al-Hazm was only a matter of
time.
Al-Hazm was essentially subdivided en masse at one point and lots were distributed
free on a random basis. Applicants rushed to take advantage of the free land offer although
some did not intend to actually build in the near future. Recipients either built or sold their
lots for cash and used the money to buy land in another location that suited their needs. In
both cases, the construction flurry which was made possible by the REDF loans and the
Land Distribution Program (LDP) fueled a spate of speculation in the real estate market
unprecedented by the town's standards. These lucrative ventures brought mixed results.
On the one hand, investment in the real estate market brought additional income to
participants and prosperity to the construction industry. On the other hand, the speculative
practices also resulted in higher prices close to the center, where services, for example
schools, existed, hence causing a continuous centrifugal movement toward the periphery
where land prices were less expensive. Due to the fact that few recipients actually intended
to build on their lots, dispersed growth marked new suburban development in Al-Hazm.
Some of those who obtained land through the Land LDP did not originally intend to build
in the near future, for some land recipients did not live or work in Huraimla, and could not
build their own homes for lack of sufficient funds, or lived with their parents. 24
Moreover, plots were also received by those who had lived or showed proof that the
applicant descended from one of Huraimla's families, though do not live in the town.
The combined effects of demanding free or less expensive land at the outer rim where
the government guaranteed free infrastructure and assured the provision of social and
public services helped the spread of the urban area ahead of actual need. By 1987,
Huraimla's bipolar urban form reached a total area of 407.62 hectares, out of which 31
percent was developed and only 17 percent of residential lots in subdivisions, since 1972,
were actually built. 25 Consequently, the urban area continued to bulge outward
inefficiently. 26