Amna bint Ahmed Al Rumaihi, Housing and Urban Planning Minister, has stated that the new programmes launched by the Ministry in partnership with the private sector have contributed to the provision of more housing services and accelerating the fulfilment of housing demands, in order to achieve the required balance with the volume of annual housing requests received by the Ministry.
She indicated that the housing financing schemes have achieved positive results on the social and economic levels, by providing housing services to thousands of Bahraini families since their launch in the third quarter of 2022, noting that requests to benefit from housing financing top housing services in terms of citizens’ demand for them, thanks to the diversity it provides in terms of different financing purposes.
In this regard, she asserted that the majority of requests that have been accepted are those submitted by the citizens who want to obtain other services and prefer the quickest means to receive housing immediately.
She highlighted the role of the Government Land Development Programme (GLDP) in providing housing services to the citizens, noting that under the programme, real estate development companies implement housing projects on government-owned lands and then offer them for the beneficiaries of financing services at prices that match those financing services.
She noted the success of the pilot project of the Programme, namely the “Suhail” Housing Project, 93% of its units were sold during the second edition of the Housing Finance Exhibition, which encouraged the Ministry to implement more projects under the GLDP.
Minister Al Rumaihi said that the Housing and Urban Planning Ministry had recently signed an agreement to build 131 housing units in Salman City, in cooperation with the private sector, in addition to inviting bids to implement other projects in Buhair and Hoorat Sanad, adding that more flexible options will be provided for the citizens to obtain their housing service as quickly as possible.
Al Rumaihi made the statements as she participated in a plenary session, held on the sidelines of the “Real Estate Future Forum”, hosted by the Saudi Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing.
Addressing the session, the minister reviewed the kingdom’s efforts to provide housing services to the citizens, through housing financing schemes and the GLDP, in addition to the ongoing implementation of projects in housing cities, and the results achieved in this regard.
She touched on the government’s efforts to preserve urban heritage, by highlighting the most prominent aspects of the Muharraq Development Plan, which is currently implemented in coordination with many ministries and government agencies, in addition to private sector companies and institutions.
Under the scheme, covering an area of up to 1.4 million square metres, well-known neighbourhoods in the Muharraq Governorate will be revived and developed. The project features building and renovating residential units, unifying architectural facades according to the authentic Bahraini architectural style, and then returning the citizens to live in their areas.
Minister Al Rumaihi commended the efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in providing affordable housing services to their citizens, praising the integration among GCC states through the exchange of experiences and training, especially in the field of partnership with the private sector to provide social housing services, in light of the bloc’s policy to develop and expand these initiatives during the next stage.
The Housing and Urban Planning Minister also participated in the opening session of the Real Estate Future Forum, as well as in the inauguration of its accompanying exhibition.
