Bahrain's Housing and Urban Planning Minister Amna bint Ahmed Al Romaihi highlighted the kingdom's key achievements in the housing sector, especially the funding programme and the government land rights development programme which aim to guarantee citizens immediate access to housing services, at the ongoing second session of the UN Habitat in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

 

She also underlined the role of the ministry in spearheading development programmes in partnership with the private sector and the giant strides in achieving sustainability in the housing sector, reported BNA.

 

On its housing finance programme, Al Romaihi said the kingdom has raised the ceiling of the maximum and minimum financing value, thus attracting more than 7,000 applicants to benefit from financing within only 10 months.

 

"The ministry was able to meet 60% of those applications already, which is a record number, in light of the high number of housing applications in the Kingdom of Bahrain", she said.

 

Al Romaihi said the government gives full priority to providing decent housing for citizens through innovative and optimal programmes and initiatives.

 

"These initiatives are based on extensive studies that take into account the challenges facing the housing sector", stated the minister, citing mainly demographic growth, rising number of applications and the need to optimize the budget allocated to the social housing sector.

 

Shedding light on the Government Land Development Rights Programme, the minister said it is aimed at building thousands of housing units on state-owned land with the help of real estate developers.

 

According to her, the ministry has already completed the experimental phase of this scheme through the Al-Lawzi project, which includes 132 housing units, which will be marketed during the next few days to citizens.

 

The ministry has drawn-up a long-term plan to expand the projects, based in residential cities, in addition to a number of regions in various governorates, she stated.

 

Al Romaihi also highlighted Bahrain’s progress to implement the eleventh goal of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, which stipulates "making cities and human settlements inclusive for all, safe, resilient and sustainable".