Her Excellency Mrs. Amna bint Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, Minister of Housing and Urban Planning, affirmed that the immediate housing services recently launched by the Ministry, represented in the housing financing program and the government land development rights program in partnership with the private sector, ensured citizens obtaining adequate housing without lengthy waiting periods, noting that the results The positivity achieved so far, represented in the volume of demand for these programs, is a result of the government's approach to innovation in providing housing services to citizens.
This came during a speech delivered by the Minister of Housing and Urban Planning at the discussion session organized by the Kingdom of Bahrain at the United Nations on the sidelines of the Kingdom's delegation's participation in the meetings of the high-level political forum on sustainable development held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, which was held under the title "Innovative and Sustainable Solutions." to provide adequate housing”, with the participation of the heads of delegations of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Republic of Singapore, the Republic of Kenya, the Dominican Republic, and the Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Program.
During the discussion session, the Minister of Housing and Urban Planning reviewed the process of the social housing sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain, which began in the early sixties of the last century, reviewing the stages of providing social housing, which began with the inauguration and opening of the Isa Town project in the sixties, then Hamad Town in 1984, then Zayed City, Down to the five housing cities that the ministry has been implementing since 2012, which are Salman City, Khalifa City, East Hidd City, East Sitra City, in addition to Al-Ramli Suburb.
The minister noted that the eight cities built by the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain ensured the provision of thousands of housing services to citizens, which varied between units, apartments and residential plots, noting that the option of implementing the cities was accompanied by an interest in providing services and service, educational, health and sports facilities, as they represent the ingredients for providing a quality of life. In those cities, this is the approach that the government worked to develop in the currently existing housing cities, indicating the existence of a priority plan to continue implementing these services in new cities, in addition to paying attention to afforestation plans, providing walkways for pedestrian and bicycle movement, and paying attention to the Bahrain facades and public coasts of cities with Coastal nature, noting that this is in line with the implementation plan of Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 on sustainable cities and local communities.
The Minister also reviewed the government efforts that were made to implement the royal directive of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of the country, to provide 40,000 housing units, a directive that was announced in March of the year 2022 to be actually completed, in a new gain added to the previous gains. The social housing sector is part of the comprehensive development process under the leadership of His Majesty the King, may God protect and protect him.
The Minister touched on the new era witnessed by the housing sector in the Kingdom, represented by the government’s tendency to provide immediate housing services to citizens, through the housing financing program and the government land development rights program, and the results achieved by these initiatives that exceeded expectations during a period not exceeding one year, as the financing succeeded. Housing can meet thousands of citizens’ immediate requests, with an unprecedented diversity of financing purposes that have been met by citizens.
The Minister referred to the results achieved in the housing finance exhibition in its second edition, which was organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning and the Housing Bank in the City Center Bahrain complex during the period from 15 to 24 last June, and witnessed the presence of more than 24 thousand citizens, and what was witnessed by the pavilions of real estate companies and participating banks. From the interaction of citizens, noting that this exhibition and similar initiatives come within the framework of a comprehensive policy aimed at reaching citizens and enabling them to obtain appropriate housing that suits their requirements and needs.
The Minister also noted the positive results of offering the “S’hail” project for citizens to benefit from, which represents the first projects of the government land development rights program in partnership with the private sector, as she reported that 93% of the project’s units were reserved within just 10 days at the Housing Finance Exhibition, and that this is an indicator of success. For immediate housing programs.
On the other hand, Minister Amna Al-Rumaihi touched on the groups benefiting from the housing services provided by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, highlighting the entitlements of Bahraini women from all types of services provided by the Ministry, as the Ministry has provided more than 4,000 housing services to Bahraini female citizens, and also grants citizenship. The Bahraini woman receives a housing allowance bonus immediately after her housing request is accepted, noting that this comes as a result of the high care given by the wise leadership, the esteemed government and the Supreme Council for Women, headed by Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of the King of the Kingdom of Bahrain, President of the Supreme Council for Women, may God protect her, to provide public services. For female citizens, including housing services.
The Minister also touched on the services provided by the Ministry to people with special needs, whether by providing services that suit their needs, or engineering modifying housing units to suit different types of disabilities.
The Minister confirmed that the Ministry will continue to work to provide decent, appropriate and distinguished housing services to citizens, in compliance with what was stated in the government’s program (2023-2026) in this regard, and the Ministry will also continue to strengthen efforts to implement the eleventh goal of the Sustainable Development Goals.
