More social housing programmes are on the way for an increasing number of beneficiaries.

The pledge was made by Housing and Urban Planning Minister Amna Al Romaihi as she addressed Shura Council members during their weekly session at the National Assembly complex in Gudaibiya yesterday.

Council members unanimously approved Parliament-proposed amendments to the 1976 Housing Law that would give the minister more rights to add new services and introduce new criteria and more facilities, specifically for low-income families.

The legislation will now be ratified by His Majesty King Hamad following Parliament’s unanimous approval last month.

There are more than 57,000 Bahraini families waiting for homes, according to the latest figures presented by the ministry.

Ms Al Romaihi said new strategies had to be formulated to meet people’s demands.

Ms Al Romaihi

“Conventional programmes are not serving the purpose of pushing ahead with our intended targets in getting people fast, better and more efficient social housing schemes,” she added.

“In 2015, the ministry began introducing new programmes to speed up the process and last year we introduced more creative and innovative schemes to cater to more families and fulfil their housing needs.”

The minister said current programmes would also be improved.

“We have new mechanisms to offer more financing options to people, with us currently dealing with eight local banks. We are also planning to build on partnerships with the private sector and expand our five housing towns.

“Revamped programmes now see us providing plots and BD40,000 grants per family, BD71,000 financing and BD10,000 grants per family, and deluxe apartments with BD3,000 furnishing grants.

“More beneficiaries have been added to the fifth category (women), with the real estate registration fees being handled by the government.”

Social homes that can be attained through private developers with a maximum price of BD98,000 were on the way, with Salman Town being cited as an example.

In August this year, the ministry started contacting citizens, who had requested for houses in 2004 or before, to present them with alternative solutions and options, according to a set timeline.

This came following directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to allocate additional budget for financing solutions and alternative options for housing applicants.

Ms Al Romaihi affirmed at the time that this plan comes in line with other social housing programmes, ‘Tasheel’ and ‘Mazaya’, for the immediate fulfilment of housing requests by citizens.

She noted the huge demand from citizens to avail of new financing options.

The housing plan will provide three alternative solutions for old housing requests from 2004 and before.

The first option includes the allocation of a housing unit, subsidised by a financing of BD40,000 through ‘Tasheel’ programme, while continuing the housing allowance for two years from the due date.

The second option is to provide a residential apartment for the beneficiaries with a financial grant of BD3,000 and a two-year exemption from maintenance fees for shared areas.

The third option is to grant beneficiaries the maximum financing provided through Tasheel, which is BD70,000, in addition to a BD10,000 grant.

The first and second options will be available to citizens with monthly income not exceeding BD900, while the third is for those whose monthly income ranges from BD900-BD1,500, the minister said.

The GDN reported earlier that up to 90 per cent of Bahraini families pay subsidised instalments for government social homes.

In response to MPs’ call for interest-free loans, the Cabinet revealed that only between 10 to 15 per cent of beneficiaries pay the full cost of their housing unit.

 

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