Issued by Ministry of Municipalities and Housing: Decision 4600108324
Article 1
Definitions The following terms—wherever they appear in these rules– have the meanings assigned to each of them, unless the context requires otherwise:
Law: The Public Utilities Protection Law.
Ministry: The Ministry of Municipalities and Housing.
Minister: The Minister of Municipalities and Housing.
Competent entity: The secretariat or the municipality based on the geographical competence of each entity, or the relevant entities based on the competence.
Head of the competent entity: The secretary or mayor.
Road: All road components (within the urban area), including road buffers, asphalt, medians, shoulders, parkings, pavements, lighting, signboards, signals, kilometer markers, and all that is constructed above, below, or on the sides of public roads, such as bridges, culverts, pipes, overpasses, underpasses, fences, barriers, walls, coverings, cables, poles, and others.
Flood drainage channels: All that relates to floods, including channels, drainage lines, openings, covers, pumps designated for draining floods, and others.
Violator: A natural or legal person who commits any violation of the provisions of the law and its executive regulation.
Flooding: Flooding public roads or their buffers in a manner that causes their disruption or prevent them from being utilized in whole or in part.
Article 2
The violator shall compensate all damages caused to the utility or others, including the costs of repairing the damage he causes, and compensation for the benefit lost by the utility or others. The competent entity may require the violator to repair the results of his violation or carry out the repair at the expense of the violator and recover from him all expenses and costs required to remove the infringment and repair the resulting damages. If he does not pay them, they must be collected in accordance with the State Revenue Law.
Article 3
The entities, administrations, and companies concerned with the management of any public utility shall submit the utility masterplans and instructions prepared to protect it to those who request them from those concerned. They are also responsible for the accuracy of the instructions and masterplans they submit.
Article 4
The violator shall pay for the repair costs and damages resulting from the damage to the road or its utilities resulting from traffic accidents in proportion to his responsibility for the accident according to the report of the relevant entity.
Article 5
Whoever intentionally damages, blocks, or obstructs a road or flood drainage channels must be punished with a fine of 75% (seventy-five percent) of the cost of repairing the damaged property, provided that the fine does not exceed one hundred thousand Riyals, whether the perpetrator is the principal or an accomplice.
This does not prevent the completion of the legal procedures to refer the perpetrator to the competent court.
Article 6
Whoever causes damaging, blocking, or disruption of road supplies or flood drainage channels as a result of carrying out other works related to any of the public utilities without prior coordination with the competent entity and obtaining a license for that, must be punished with a fine of 10% (ten percent) of the repair costs provided that the fine does not exceed 100,000 (one hundred thousand) Riyals.
If the matter has been coordinated with the competent entity and the necessary license has been obtained, the fine must be 5% (five percent) of the value of the repair costs provided that it does not exceed 100,000 (one hundred thousand) Riyals.
Article 7
Whoever infringes on any road or flood drainage channels with the intention of illegally benefiting from their services, causing cuts or holes in them, taking dirt from them, or destroying them, must be punished with a fine equivalent to the costs of removing the infringement and restoring the situation to its prior state provided that the fine does not exceed 50,000 (fifty thousand) Riyals.
Article 8
Whoever infringes the road by flooding it with water or others, or causes an act that results in its disruption or total or partial non-utilization, such as dropping dirt or stones on it from cars or otherwise, must be punished with a fine of 3,000 (three thousand) Riyals.
Article 9
Whoever facilitates to others to illegally benefit from a road or flood drainage channels must be punished with a fine of 2,000 (two thousand) Riyals.
Article 10
In the event of a repetition of any of the violations mentioned in these rules, the fine must be doubled provided that it does not exceed double the prescribed amount for the fine.
Article 11
Without prejudice to the punishments provided in the rules, the perpetrator of the violation or his subordinate, as the case may be, shall pay all expenses and costs necessary to remove the infringement, repair the damages resulting from the violation, and restore the situation to its prior state.
Article 12
The costs of removing the harm and repairing the consequences of the violation to restore the situation to its prior state are determined in accordance with the prices of the contracts signed by the competent entity to implement or maintain the harmed utility.
Article 13
The collection of fines and compensation does not preclude the completion of the necessary procedures to refer the violator to the competent court to impose the imprisonment punishment stipulated in article 5 of the Public Utilities Protection Law.
Article 14
Unless governed by a special text, the provisions of these rules apply to violations of the provisions of the Public Utilities Protection Law.
Article 15
The decision on compensation, fine, or both must be issued by the head of the competent entity.
Article 16
(a) The head of the competent entity shall form a committee (or more) to consider grievances regarding fines and compensations. The committee must consist of three members, and the decision must specify its chair, provided that one of its members is a Sharia or legal specialist. Its decisions must be issued by majority vote, must be reasoned, and approved by the head of the competent entity.
(b) It is permitted to file a grievance against the committee stipulated in paragraph (a) of this article regarding the fine or compensation before the Administrative Court within sixty days from the date of notification of the decision or knowledge of it. The grievance must not result in the suspension of the implementation of the decision.
Article 17
These rules come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette and hereby repeal all provisions that are in conflict with them.
Published in Umm Al-Qura 5062 issued on 27 December 2024.
