JEDDAH: As many as 8,143 low-cost housing units will be constructed for the poor in different parts of the country, Shuwaish bin Saud Al-Dhowaihi, governor of the Public Housing Authority (PHA), announced on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters after signing contracts with a number of national companies to build the housing units, he said the PHA is committed to providing decent housing to the needy through a well thought out housing program.
The contracts were signed to build 900 units in the Eastern Province city of Hafr Al-Baten, 342 in the northern border town of Turaif, 273 in Gurayat, and 149 housing units each in the Abu Hajar area of Jazan and Khaibar, a town in the Madinah province.
Al-Dhowaihi said the authority would soon sign three new contracts to construct 1,646 housing units in Tabuk (901 units), Qassim (381) and Al-Jouf (364). "We are in the process of awarding four more contracts to build 1,557 houses in the Northern Border Province and the southern Jazan province," he said.
He also spoke about four more housing projects to build 3,127 units in the Eastern Province (272 units), Makkah province (593), Najran (1,062) and Hail (1,200). "We'll be constructing these houses on an emergency basis after obtaining the required land."
Unofficial reports said the Kingdom needs more than 500,000 housing units and an investment of SR120 billion annually for the housing projects required for its growing population.
The Council of Ministers approved the formation of the Public Housing Authority in 2007 to set out the Kingdom's future housing strategy and establish low-cost housing projects for the poor. It will also take steps to increase the rate of home ownership. Some 44 percent of Saudis live in rented apartments, and 30 percent (695,000 families) in unsuitable housing.
The new low-cost housing projects were planned as part of the government's efforts to fight poverty. The Kingdom has embarked on a plan to cut down the poverty rate to 2.2 percent by 2020.
Abdullah Al-Moaiqel, secretary-general of the National Strategy to Combat Poverty, said a number of programs had been introduced to fight poverty in the Kingdom.
He put the number of Saudi families living in extreme poverty at 35,000 or 1.63 percent of the total Saudi population. They live on less than SR1,700 a month. There are 409,000 families which spend less than SR3,800 a month and they represent 18.9 percent of the population, he explained.
According to a study, Jazan province has the largest number of poor people in the country (45 percent) while Qassim has the lowest (eight percent). The Jazan Economic City was planned as part of the government's strategy to fight poverty and achieve balanced growth in all parts of the Kingdom.
The study showed that 39 percent of families in Jazan live below the poverty threshold (the minimum level of income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living), against 24.53 percent families in Najran, 24.07 percent in Madinah and 23.59 percent in the northern border province.
By P.K. Abdul Ghafour
© Arab News 2009
