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Kuwait plans to build three new cities, residential areas by 2020
One of three cities is planned on Saudi border while other two will be built close to frontier with Iraq, Othaina said.
KUWAIT CITY - The wealthy Gulf state
of Kuwait plans to build around 174,000 houses by 2020, the Housing
Minister told parliament on Thursday, in projects that will cost
billions of dollars.
"Currently, we have more than
100,000 applications for houses from citizens. The number grows by over
8,000 a year and we expect to require around 174,000 units by 2020,"
Salem al-Othaina said in a special parliament debate.
"By
2020, we plan to build three new cities with a capacity of 108,000
units... In addition, we plan to create several new residential areas
with around 66,000 units," he said.
One of the three
cities is planned on the Saudi border while the other two will be built
close to the frontier with Iraq, Othaina said.
He gave
no estimates for the total cost of the eight-year plan, but one lawmaker
said the infrastructure alone for the planned projects would cost more
than $5 billion (3.8 billion euros).
Othaina said the Ministry plans to invite companies in the private sector to take part in the project.
The
special debate was called by MPs wanting to know why the government was
lagging far behind in meeting housing applications despite having more
than $400 billion of surpluses generated from oil sales.
Under
Kuwait's generous welfare system, all Kuwaitis, estimated at just 1.2
million, have the right to apply for a government house after getting
married, but the waiting time has recently soared to around 15 years.
Once they receive the house, they pay it off in easy instalments over around 30 years.
Othaina
and several MPs said the reasons for the delay in building homes
include the scarcity of land available for housing, as most is reserved
for oil projects, and the high price of land and houses.
"No
one in this country can buy his own house from the open market because
of the high price of real estate," said independent MP Yussef
al-Zalzalah. "Some influential people want these prices to remain high."
A
square metre of housing land can cost $1,000 in remote areas and much
more close to Kuwait City. More than 95 percent of the land is
state-owned.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
One of three cities is planned on Saudi border while other two will be built close to frontier with Iraq, Othaina said.
KUWAIT CITY - The wealthy Gulf state
of Kuwait plans to build around 174,000 houses by 2020, the Housing
Minister told parliament on Thursday, in projects that will cost
billions of dollars.
"Currently, we have more than
100,000 applications for houses from citizens. The number grows by over
8,000 a year and we expect to require around 174,000 units by 2020,"
Salem al-Othaina said in a special parliament debate.
"By
2020, we plan to build three new cities with a capacity of 108,000
units... In addition, we plan to create several new residential areas
with around 66,000 units," he said.
One of the three
cities is planned on the Saudi border while the other two will be built
close to the frontier with Iraq, Othaina said.
He gave
no estimates for the total cost of the eight-year plan, but one lawmaker
said the infrastructure alone for the planned projects would cost more
than $5 billion (3.8 billion euros).
Othaina said the Ministry plans to invite companies in the private sector to take part in the project.
The
special debate was called by MPs wanting to know why the government was
lagging far behind in meeting housing applications despite having more
than $400 billion of surpluses generated from oil sales.
Under
Kuwait's generous welfare system, all Kuwaitis, estimated at just 1.2
million, have the right to apply for a government house after getting
married, but the waiting time has recently soared to around 15 years.
Once they receive the house, they pay it off in easy instalments over around 30 years.
Othaina
and several MPs said the reasons for the delay in building homes
include the scarcity of land available for housing, as most is reserved
for oil projects, and the high price of land and houses.
"No
one in this country can buy his own house from the open market because
of the high price of real estate," said independent MP Yussef
al-Zalzalah. "Some influential people want these prices to remain high."
A
square metre of housing land can cost $1,000 in remote areas and much
more close to Kuwait City. More than 95 percent of the land is
state-owned.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
