The UAE government has announced plans to build more than 17,873 new residential units across the country at an investment of Dh17.32 billion ($4.7 billion) over the next five years, under a major housing development program.
Besides this, a total of 5,134 houses will be built in residential neighborhoods under construction, said Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development and chairman of the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme.
He was speaking at an event on the occasion of the UAE’s 48th National Day to highlight the key achievements of the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme.
Established by the UAE’s founding father Late Sheikh Zayed, the program has set strategic objectives which seek to meet the current and future residential needs of Emirati citizens; provide and develop the sustainable and innovative residential environment beyond people expectations; and ensure the provision of administrative services according to quality, efficiency and transparency standards.
Al Nuaimi said the program is implementing a package of housing projects around the country this year, which include over 11,000 individual homes and another 2,936 units as part of four housing neighborhoods under construction. These units will be delivered in 2020 and 2021, respectively, he stated.
Under the scheme, the total number of residential units under construction this year has risen to 13,946, revealed the minister. “The program aims to construct 13,200 individual housing units in 2020,” he added.
According to him, the cost of the program’s future projects is expected to hit Dh22.32 billion over the next five years.
Dr. Al Nuaimi pointed out that the main goal of the program was to fulfill the housing needs of UAE citizens so that it reduced its waiting period from eight years to several months.
The government, he stated, has to date distributed housing aid worth Dh17.5 billion to over 67,000 nationals under the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme in the form of loans and grants to build new houses and maintain existing houses.
“The proportion of citizens now receiving housing aid exceeds 90 percent of applications, which was less than 30 percent when the program was established,” said Dr. Al Nuaimi.
According to him, the value of housing support decisions made this year until October amounted to Dh2.8 billion, up 740 percent compared to 2001 and equivalent to over Dh388 million.
The minister said that this high percentage reflected the keenness of the country’s leadership to provide citizens with suitable modern housing.
The program has issued 1,051 housing aid decisions to senior citizens and people of determination with an estimated cost of Dh500 million, to ensure their housing stability and make them happy, he noted.
The number of completed and delivered individual housing projects since the program’s inception total 35,000 houses while houses delivered to UAE citizens through residential neighborhoods amounted to 1,490, as part of the construction of five neighborhoods costing Dh1.5 billion, he added.
The program aims to meet sustainability standards related to residential neighborhoods, through reducing water consumption by 40 percent and electricity consumption by 20 percent.
TradeArabia News Service
03/12/2019
