Bahrain's housing strides highlighted at WUF9

Kuala Lumpur, Feb. 9 (BNA): Bahrain’s delegation to the ninth World Urban Forum (WUF9), currently held here, continued its participation in the forum’s plenary sessions focusing on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda that was adopted in October 2016 at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development – Habitat III in Quito, Ecuador. Led by Housing Minister, Bassim bin Yacub Al-Hamar, the delegation participated in plenary sessions and roundtables on “Cities for All and Housing at the Centre”, “The Urban Dimension in Climate Change Action”, strategic planning for the New Urban Agenda, developing cities, “Urbanisation and Development: Investing in the transformative force of cities”, and “An Integrated Territorial Approach to Sustainable Development”. The Housing Minister asserted that the Government of Bahrain has, for six decades, allocated special interest to social housing for low-income citizens, and succeeded in providing housing units for thousands of Bahraini families through building large housing cities, providing financial and social support through housing units, land lots and granting housing allowances. The kingdom, guided by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s directives, continues attaining housing gains by building 40,000 units, 25,000 of which will be completed by 2018, and 15,000 in the coming years, noting that most units in the new housing cities include all facilities and services required for any sustainable urban area, he said. The minister added that the Housing Ministry had launched, in cooperation with the private sector, a new programmme , called "Mazaya", under which social housing is provided for citizens who are listed on the Ministry of Housing’s waiting lists. Under “Mazaya” housing waiting list beneficiaries are assisted to purchase a housing unit by obtaining financing from a participating bank, in addition to providing government financial support. Installments paid by the beneficiary will amount to 25% of his/her monthly income. The government financial support shall be equivalent to the difference between the monthly installment paid by the beneficiary, and the required installment amount by the participating bank. Al-Hamar affirmed that the programme has been widely welcomed by the citizens, the financial sector and real estate developers. The minister emphasised the kingdom’s unwavering resolve to carry on its efforts to implement programmes aimed to improve the living standards for everyone, while providing facilities to the private sector to play a greater role in the process. He pointed out that Housing Ministry had started reviewing the housing policy and strategy through signing a cooperation document with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN-HABITAT and the Ministry of Housing. The roject document aims to revise Bahrain’s housing policy to develop an effective, efficient and sustainable housing and land sector in line with new economic realities. The agreement, “Bahrain Housing Policy Revision”, is the first of its kind in Bahrain between two UN agencies and works effectively towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).