Budget is main obstacle in launching housing projects in Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY: The Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) is working on providing various housing alternatives in order to meet the growing need of citizens for residential care.

Despite the remarkable progress in the face of increasing housing demands, budgets remain an obstacle in the launch of these projects and the establishment of the necessary infrastructure, reports Al-Rai daily.

In a latest statistical report published by the authority on its official website, the number of housing applications that meet the necessary conditions reached 91,542 as of the end of December 2020.

This indicates a growth in the number of those entitled to housing care. With the delay of various projects proposed in PAHW’s plan, which, if available to them, the required budgets covered 149,000 housing requests in three future areas – Sabriya City, Nawaf Al-Ahmad City, and Khairan Residential City.

The analysis on the number of existing housing applications from 1985 until the end of December 2020 showed that the owners of 1,351 applications from 1985 to 1999 were not approved for any of the housing projects submitted by PAHW from that time until now.

The number of housing applications reached 40,168 from 2000 to 2010.

Citizens eligible for housing care registered 5,023 applications from 2011 until this statistic was published. The analysis also showed that the housing units in the projects that were actually delivered or on plans was 58,561 units.

The number of housing units in the preparatory stages was 61,564, which are divided as follows – 40,000 housing units in the city of South Saad Al Abdullah, 20,380 housing units in the city of South Sabah Al-Ahmad, and 1,184 housing units in East Sabah Al-Ahmad.

This brings the total housing units that have been distributed or are in the process of being distributed to 12,205.

Through this analysis, the extent of the challenge faced by PAHW in meeting the increasing number of housing requests is clear. It is also clear that the obstacles it faces after liberating many of the lands that were handed over to them are budgets and the provision of suitable housing alternatives for citizens.