The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning participated in a number of specialized sessions within the work of the thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13), held in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, with wide participation from experts, decision-makers and international institutions concerned with urban development and sustainable housing.
Mr. Ahmed Kamel Ahmed Al Sharaf, Director of the Developers Relations Department at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, gave a presentation on the Government Land Development Program (GLDP), during a session organized by the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council, in which he reviewed the program's mechanisms and its role in enhancing partnership with the private sector to accelerate housing provision through government land development.
He pointed out the launch of seven projects aimed at providing more than four thousand units between 2024 and 2027, with the announcement of the completion of the "Suhail" projects in the Al-Lawzi suburb, the "Al-Naseem neighborhood" in Salman City, and the "Al-Wadi" project in the Al-Buhair area, and the start of reserving "Danat Sand" units in the Southern Governorate through the "Sale on the Map" program, in addition to starting to implement 3 projects within the program in Salman City at the present time.
During another discussion session entitled “Housing Market Innovation”, the Director of the Developers Relations Department discussed the efforts of the Kingdom of Bahrain in integrating urban planning with sustainable financing solutions, reviewing the role of urban planning in aligning land uses with the actual needs of the real estate market, in a way that supports the development of cities more capable of sustainability and inclusiveness. He touched on the "Sale on the Map" program for beneficiaries of the "Government Land Development Rights" program projects, and the "Private Land Development Rights" program, noting that the program aims to provide greater options for citizens by giving them the ability to choose and reserve their residential units early according to approved and clear plans, in addition to benefiting from the financing and procedural facilities provided by the program.
For her part, Ms. Amina Majed, Head of the Institutional Excellence and Innovation Department at the Ministry, presented a workshop entitled “From Policy to Implementation: Providing Housing Solutions”, in which the Kingdom of Bahrain participated to review its housing war, along with 29 other countries selected from more than 800 experiences and programs nominated to participate in the forum.
During her participation in the workshop, the Head of the Institutional Excellence and Innovation Department reviewed the development of housing policies in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the foundations upon which the newly established housing finance programmes and housing services were based.
Amina Majid touched on a number of indicators related to housing financing programs, explaining that more than 21,000 Bahraini families benefited from the new financing programs, including “Tasheel”, "Tasheel+", ”Mazaya ”, and "New Category Benefits", which contributed to reducing waiting lists, in addition to supporting economic movement by pumping liquidity exceeding 1.9 billion Bahraini dinars.
She pointed to the Ministry's efforts to digitize housing services and develop electronic services, which contributes to facilitating procedures and enhancing citizens' easy access to various housing services.
It is worth noting that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning presented the projects “Khalifa City Master Plan” and ”Development of Housing Policy in Bahrain” on the digital platform “Practices Center” of the United Nations Human Settlements Program “Habitat”, on the sidelines of the World Urban Forum, as they are considered advanced experiences in the fields of urban planning and housing policies, and the two projects received attention and praise from the participating delegations.
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