Iran's arm disrupts the real estate and architectural sectors in Sana'a

English - Saturday 20 May 2023 الساعة 07:13 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, exclusive:

Local sources in Sana'a said that the terrorist Houthi militia, Iran's arm in Yemen, has suspended, since the beginning of this year, registration activities and land baptism procedures in the real estate registry of the General Authority for Lands, Survey and Urban Planning in Sana'a.

The sources told (Newsyemen) that this arbitrary measure caused a great stagnation and a drop in real estate prices by 50% since the beginning of this year, and led to the stopping of the work of a large segment of citizens, led by landowners, legal trustees, real estate brokers, offices, contracting companies, and engineering offices. Daily wage workers and other professionals who work in construction, finishing works, electrical and sanitary installations, and others.

According to the sources, this decision is the second within a year, after a similar decision issued by the same party, following heated inter-disputes between the leaders of the Houthis in the first row, in the context of their struggle to plunder and confiscate public and private lands and control them, and create huge financial fortunes from them.

The sources said that the Houthi leader, Hashem Muhammad Hashim al-Shami, who was appointed by the militia as head of the General Authority for Lands, Survey and Urban Planning, refused to implement the recommendations of the Houthi Parliament (losing a quorum) to stop working on the financial regulations of the authority, as it is unfair to citizens.

The Houthi leader, Ali Al-Zanam, demanded the presence of the head of the commission in the House of Representatives, to answer his questions about obstructing the work of the commission, which led to stagnation in the entire sector.

In a preemptive step for what might result from the House of Representatives inviting the head of the authority, Mahdi Al-Mashat, head of the so-called Supreme Political Council affiliated with the Houthis, hastened to issue a decision on the first of last February, stipulating the establishment of the Real Estate Documentation Registry Department in the Ministry of Justice and was appointed as its director in the capital Sana’a. The leader called Ahmed al-Qabbani, in conjunction with the establishment of branches of the newly created administration in the governorates of Sana'a and Saada, for the purpose of collecting the huge revenues of real estate taxes imposed on landowners from citizens illegally, into a container for the militia, and canceled previous directives for his leadership rival in the group, Muhammad Ali al-Houthi, head of The so-called "justice system".

The sources pointed out that this vital sector has turned into a market for laundering looted money due to monetary inflation, which reached 45 percent late last year.

Observers of the Houthi actions attributed the suspension of the authority's work to a state of intense conflict within the leaders of the militia wings, and it aims to cover up a wide process of looting and confiscation of citizens' lands and state property and real estate, especially the lands of endowments, since the real estate sector is one of the most important and most attractive means for money launderers, to hide the huge funds obtained illegally.