Work set to start on 303 homes in Salman Town in Bahrain

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Work will start in June on more than 300 new housing units at Salman Town, Housing Minister Bassem Al Hamer revealed.

The 303 new homes will take around 24 months to complete.

He said the project would include secondary infrastructure work at the town, located off Bahrain’s north coast.

“The cost of the new 303 housing units is BD13.5 million and the ministry has already started fencing the location and preparing the ground for construction work,” revealed Mr Al Hamer in a statement.

“This batch will be followed by other batches in the new town.”

The ministry in 2014 embarked on a project to build 40,000 social housing units by 2022.

Mr Al Hamer said more than 25,000 had been constructed over the past four years, adding that a budget for additional homes was pending.

Parliament and the Shura Council are currently locked in negotiations with the government over spending plans for 2019 and 2020.

“The Salman Town project has greatly contributed in answering thousands of housing requests on the waiting list, especially in the Northern Governorate – which has the highest density of applications,” added Mr Al Hamer.

“New towns and housing projects are a pioneer idea contributing greatly to reducing the numbers on the waiting list and in line with achieving Bahrain Economic Vision 2030.

“These towns have the land necessary to build housing projects, along with necessary services, utilities and amenities, as we have had previous success stories – which are Hamad Town and Isa Town.”

The GDN reported on March 27 that approximately 55,000 Bahrainis were still on waiting lists for social housing schemes.

In December it emerged Bahrain had built 26,401 social housing units over a four-year period at a cost of BD1.404 billion.

At the time 3,408 Bahrainis had also acquired their homes from the Mazaya Scheme, which provides affordable finance in partnership with commercial banks.

The GDN reported last August that more than 2,800 units at Salman Town were distributed in July, while 3,000 were handed out in June, and the town is expected to feature 31 places of worship, 63 educational institutions and 14 health facilities.

Projects

As part of efforts to meet demand for homes the government is also pushing ahead with other new housing developments, including the new East Hidd Town, East Sitra Residential Town and Khalifa Town.

Other residential projects are located in Al Ramli, Al Louzi, Hamad Town, Juffair, Buhair and Tubli.

During an appearance in parliament last month, Mr Al Hamer stated around 70 per cent of those on waiting lists for government housing units were aged below 38.

reem@gdn.com.bh

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