The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning confirmed the continuation of implementing a number of programs and projects, and providing a range of options to meet housing demands, in line with achieving its goals of providing housing services according to modern and sustainable standards.
In its response to the question submitted by His Excellency Mr. Abdullah Hassan Al-Dhaen, a member of the House of Representatives, the Ministry explained that the number of existing applications for residents of the seventh district of Muharraq Governorate amounts to 1,536 applications, varying between units, apartments, and residential plots.
The Ministry said that the number of requests that were met since the beginning of the legislative term at the level of the governorates of the Kingdom of Bahrain until January 2024 amounted to 6,000 requests, of which 154 requests belonged to the people of the seventh district in the Muharraq Governorate, noting that the number of requests that belonged to the people of the same district and fell during the legislative term. The current number of applications is 53, due to the family not meeting the permanent residency requirement, or not meeting the conditions for forming a family, or a family member owning a residential property.
Regarding meeting existing requests in the same department, the Ministry confirmed that it is currently implementing the order of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, may God protect him, to distribute 6,800 housing services, which include the distribution of the first phase of the city of East Sitra, and units in the city. East Al Hidd, and units in Salman City, in addition to more than 5,000 funding requests, as the Ministry began coordination to communicate with citizens eligible for services, which continues until the end of this February.
In a related context, and in implementation of the order of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, may God protect him, to allocate an additional budget to finance solutions and alternative options for those with old housing applications for the year 2004 and before, the Ministry began developing solutions, which are represented in three options based on the income of citizens eligible for these options.
The first option is to allocate a real estate facilitation service in the amount of 70 thousand dinars, in addition to a 10 thousand dinars non-refundable grant, with a total amount of 80 thousand dinars, so that citizens with an income of 900 dinars or more will benefit from this service.
While the second option includes allocating a housing voucher service in addition to allocating a real estate facilitation service worth 40 thousand dinars, in order to enable citizens to build the housing voucher, in addition to continuing to disburse the housing allowance for an additional two years, so that citizens with incomes of less than 900 dinars will benefit from this service. .
As for the third option, the Ministry explained that it includes allocating a residential apartment service in addition to a financial grant estimated at 3,000 non-refundable dinars allocated for furnishing the apartment, in addition to exempting the beneficiaries of this option from paying fees for servicing common areas or maintaining common areas in buildings designated for citizens for a period. Two years, as citizens with incomes of less than 900 dinars benefit from this service.
The Ministry stated that it is communicating with citizens nominated to benefit from these options according to a timetable prepared for this, where the options are presented to them, and the numbers are counted, in preparation for allocating housing services.
Regarding the programs designated to meet the current and future demands of the people of the seventh district in Muharraq Governorate, the Ministry explained that it is pursuing several paths to enable citizens to obtain housing, the most important of which is cooperation with the private sector to ensure the provision of immediate and sustainable services through three main paths, the first of which is the launch of the housing finance program, through the “Facilitation” and “New Category Advantages” are programs that provide the citizen with the options of buying a home, building a home, buying land, buying land and building it, buying a property with a relative, or sharing among a group of beneficiaries to buy shared housing services. The minimum has also been increased. The maximum value of housing financing is the financial support provided by the government, while the Ministry continues to develop financing services to enable citizens to obtain housing.
As for the second track, the Ministry launched the Government Land Development Rights Program, with the aim of providing social housing units in partnership with the private sector. The first project, the Suhail Housing Project, was implemented and includes 132 housing units, which witnessed a large demand from citizens, and an implementation agreement was signed. 131 housing units in Salman City within the framework of the program, adding that 8 additional projects will be implemented in partnership with the private sector during the years 2023-2024, in implementation of the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, may God protect him.
As for the third track, the Ministry will continue implementing housing projects in Salman City, Khalifa City, East Hidd City, and East Sitra City, within the state’s general budget for the fiscal years 2023-2024.
