Challenges to budget housing under focus
Muscat, February 9, 2012
Challenges of implementing and designing affordable housing programmes and developments to meet the growing demand across the Middle East will come under the spotlight at an upcoming affordable housing summit in Muscat.
The Affordable Housing Development Summit Oman 2012 will take place at Grand Hyatt Muscat from April 15 to 18.
The Mena region is facing shortfalls of some 3.6 million units of affordable housing over the next five years unless the region's governments and property developers make a combined effort to solve the problem, said a report.
Several regional governments have earmarked affordable housing development schemes as a key priority, due to exponential population growth and the previous focus on luxury housing.
The four-day summit will unite these governments with major developers, investors, banks and financial institutions, contractors, solution providers and international specialists to formulate strategies and source innovative services to address the increasing need for affordable housing.
Abdullah Bin Rashid Al Kiyumi, director general of Projects for the Ministry of Housing, Oman, will review the importance of developing affordable housing projects in Oman in order to provide housing assistance and soft loans for citizens of limited income and social security families.
Muhammad bin Saif Al-Shabibi, Minister of Housing, Oman said: "Providing affordable housing continues to be a challenge within the current emerging Middle East market.
Governments within the region are seeking exceptional development frameworks, strategies and legislation toward creating and sustaining affordable housing." – TradeArabia News Service