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5 NEW TOWNS PLANNED

East Sitra Town

6,000 homes to be distributed to Bahraini families

MANAMA, December 16, 2014

A record number of 6,166 new homes will be distributed to Bahraini families this week, it has been revealed.

At a media briefing held after the weekly Cabinet session yesterday (December 15), Housing Minister Bassem Al Hamer said that a draw will be held for the new homes on December 18 at the ministry's complex in the Diplomatic Area, reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The homes on offer are either near completion or have reached an advanced stage of development, he said.

"We have plans to build five new towns by 2020, in which we aim to come up with the 40,000 homes we were ordered to provide for Bahraini families," said Al Hamer, referring to His Majesty King Hamad's directive at the opening of the National Assembly's fourth legislative term on Sunday to speed up the distribution of new homes.

"These are the Northern Town, Southern Town, East Sitra, Hidd and Al Ramli - and in each we have reached a varying degree of completion despite complications in some aspects.

"We are working in line with our plan, and have spent around 34.1 per cent of whatever has been presented to us since 2012 out of the government's $10 billion GCC financial aid grant.

"There has been a huge jump in the work being undertaken by the ministry since it started around 50 years ago - and over the past three years, we have reached 85 per cent spending of our allocated budget, which shows that we are doing things as planned."

Al Hamer said that the 6,166 new homes being distributed were divided across 18 locations including Jaw, Al Dur, Askar, Arad, Billad Al Qadeem, Dair, Samaheej, Hamala, Buri, East Riffa, Hunainiyah, Salmabad, Tubli, Hamad Town and Sitra, besides the first batches in the Northern and East Sitra towns.

"We have reviewed all the names already and are in talks with all of those eligible for the draw," he said.

"We expect it to take until February to complete distribution formalities, considering the large number of beneficiaries.

"If we are lucky then more homes could be added to the draw in the upcoming days."

According to the minister, 383 families will also be presented with housing loans to build on their own property.

"Those families are not included in the 6,166 homes that will be distributed, since it doesn't involve us directly," he said.

"We have been successful with our new social loans programme that we are carrying out with local banks, as families pay 15 per cent at first and then in instalments over 25 years to get low interest housing loans."

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Information Affairs and official government spokesman Isa Al Hammadi said that half of the allocated GCC financial aid package was already going towards projects.

"The Cabinet sees the housing issue as a top priority and because of this, half of whatever amounts have been received from the GCC aid instalments is being pumped towards carrying out housing projects," he said. - TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Bahrain | Homes | Families | distribute |

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