Municipal Affairs Minister approves Public Facility Protection Law Regulations

Majed Al-Hogail, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, approved the executive regulations for the Protection of Public Facilities, Umm Al Qura newspaper reported.

The regulations will come into effect from the date of their publication in the official gazette.

They obligate violators to compensate for all damages incurred to the facility or others, including the cost of repairing the damage. Compensation also covers the benefits lost by the facility or others.

The competent authority may require violators to repair the damage resulting from their violation or undertake the repair at the violator’s expense, in addition to recovering all costs and necessary expenses to remove the infringement, repair damage, and rectify the violation in accordance with the state revenue collection rules.

Anyone who deliberately damages, cuts, or obstructs roads or stormwater channels will be fined 75% of the repair cost, with a maximum penalty of SAR 100,000. This applies whether the offender acted alone or with others. This does not preclude further legal action to refer the offender to the competent court.