KUWAIT, Feb 24 (KUNA) -- Kuwait places a large emphasis on housing issues and the Public Authority for Housing Care (PAHC) will realize the call of His Highness the Amir in placing in effect a timetable for resolving the housing crisis, said State Minister for Housing Abdulwahed Al-Awadhi on Sunday.
Speaking to KUNA on the occasion of the national celebrations, Al-Awadhi, who is also State Minister for National Assembly Affairs, said Kuwait was one of the countries that accorded the greatest attention to housing care, noting that it won the prize for best residential project in 2007 awarded by the Arab Housing Ministers' Council.
"We take pride in that, this year, we have actually begun to realize the wishes of His Highness the Amir (for resolving the housing crisis), as PAHC has rallied its technical and administrative resources for the distribution of housing units to eligible citizens," he said.
Al-Awadhi said the housing authority's aim was to distribute one thousand housing units every month up to the year 2014 in the new cities of Jaber Al-Ahmad, Saad Al-Abdullah, Sabah Al-Ahmad, Khairan and Mitlaa.
On his part, PAHC Director General Ali Al-Fouzan said Kuwait had made housing welfare an aim and it was working hard to eliminate the housing problem through recruiting local and foreign experts and allocating large budgets for housing projects.
Total housing units constructed by PAHC since establishment in 1974 have exceeded 70,000 at 400 square meters each, worth USD seven billion.
As for the new "model" cities, Al-Fouzan said the government had allocated large budgets for these projects, which would be holding residential units of 400 square meters, noting that houses in Sabah Al-Ahmad City would be at 600 square meters. The total comes to 20,000 units to accommodate 175,000 citizens.
