The organization and development of the Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh has met with popular approval and calls for its continuation to reduce the level of crime and outlaws on the one hand, and to make it an upscale and distinguished neighborhood on the other hand, especially as it is a home to huge development projects such as Jaber Stadium, in addition to its proximity to Al-Shaddadiah University and the new Kuwait International Airport and the Avenues Mall, but it has raised the fears among some real estate developers, who say reorganizing the area might result in crisis and harm low income citizens and residents.
Realtors told the daily that “owning Jleeb” is dangerous because of the migration of approximately 300,000 expatriates who live in the area to neighboring areas such as Mahboula and other interior areas such as Salwa and Jabriya.
The real estate expert, Engineer Adnan Al-Othman, said that owning the Jleeb area, redeveloping it and offering it for sale again, is a project that citizens have long awaited for because of the importance of that area, its strategic location and its mediation between large development projects.
Al-Othman stressed that if Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh is redesigned outside the framework of what is in place in the investment, commercial and industrial areas, it will be a radiant icon linking large development projects.
He added that the reorganization of the area will result in the availability of real estate stock for developers, as Kuwait is very poor in real estate supply of all kinds, and this is what makes real estate prices reach astronomical figures that are harmful to the economy and weigh on the incomes of citizens and residents.
Al-Othman wished the state, when valuing the Jleeb, not to resell it, but rather to lease it for long periods, with the revenues of its values in line with the money invested in it, so that it would become a continuous financial source for the treasury, and not as is the case in some state properties now.
Al-Othman pointed out that this area, in its current state, represents a security risk and a center for all kinds of violations and crimes, except for the filth of the streets and the inhuman situation resulting from the accumulation of workers in rooms that are not suitable for human habitation.
He added, “If we refer to the building law and the regulations for fines on violating real estate, which stipulates the imposition of a fine of 5,000 dinars for every meter in violation with removal, and where the vast majority of real estate there is a violation, meaning if the building law is applied, the entire area will be removed, and property owners will be fined hundreds of millions of dinars, but it will greatly harm the citizens.”
Al-Othman explained that the major problem in implementing this project lies in the migration of these communities to other areas that will later become similar to Jleeb Shuyoukh, areas such as Salwa and Jabriya, meaning that evaluating the region and evacuating it all at once is something like treating a person infected with an infectious disease and transmitting his disease and infection to an entire community.
Accordingly, in order not to fall into a dangerous pit that is difficult to control, the state must first control the file of bulk workers and residence violators, most of whom live in that area, and then build organized and clean labor cities that take into account human rights requirements and are controlled by security, and then they implement this promising project.
For his part, the real estate expert, Abdulaziz Al-Dughaishem, valued the decision to develop Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh to be a vital and upscale area, after it reached a deteriorating situation in terms of urban, planning, security and housing aspects.
He added, “The Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh project has been placed among the government’s priorities, a step in the right direction, as it is characterized by a strategic location close to Kuwait International Airport (the State Front), overlooking the Sixth Ring Road and close to vital sites such as Sabah Al-Salem University City and Jaber Stadium.”
