New housing projects across all governorates under way as demand remains high

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning says it has allocated 12,733 housing services across all governorates since the start of the current legislative term, while the waiting list for traditional housing services stands at about 47,000 applications, in a written reply to MP Mohammed Janahi.

The waiting list, it added, covers requests for houses, flats and housing plots, and changes day by day as alternative services are assigned, applicants shift from traditional routes to immediate finance, and new requests are received.

In its reply, the ministry said its housing work under the Government Programme 2023–2026 rests on widening the range of choices and growing work with the private sector, with the aim of giving citizens faster paths to suitable housing.

Schemes

It pointed to finance schemes, including Tas’heel+ and Tas’heel, which it said has helped meet thousands of housing requests since its launch in 2022.

The ministry also referred to Tumooh, which it said lets eligible beneficiaries of Tas’heel and Tas’heel+ and previous beneficiaries of flat-purchase finance seek a further BD20,000 in government-backed funding after 10 years from buying a flat.

The ministry said this, along with the sale price of the flat, is meant to help households move to a larger home.

Partnership

On partnership housing delivered through the Government Land Development Rights Programme, the ministry said allocations have been completed for the Suhail project in Dhaihat Al Lawzi, meeting 132 applications through housing finance options.

It said allocations have also started for Hay Al Naseem in Madinat Salman, meeting 131 applications.

Citizens have reserved units in Al Wadi in Al Buhair, meeting 76 applications, and Danat Sitra, meeting 47 applications, through advance booking that began as a pilot in April during the Conference and Exhibition on Innovation in the Social Housing Sector.

Contracts

The ministry said it has signed contracts for three housing projects in Madinat Salman with a number of developers, providing 137 units for beneficiaries using housing finance.

It added it is taking steps to put out for tender a project to build more than 3,000 units in Madinat Khalifa, after signing four memoranda of understanding in April, and said work is expected to begin in the next stage.

It said work is continuing on projects under way in Madinat Al Hidd Housing City, Madinat Salman, Madinat Khalifa and Madinat Sitra Housing City within the 2025–2026 budget, with handovers linked to each project’s readiness.

Delivery

As an example of recent delivery, the ministry said Madinat Sitra Housing City has been opened and 1,077 homes have been handed over.

It said work began in early 2024 on a second phase of 531 homes, now in its final stages and due to be handed over in the coming weeks.