Housing projects stalled between distribution delays and pending implementation
Over 98,000 Kuwaiti families are eagerly awaiting the resumption of housing distributions for existing projects, which have been on hold since July of last year. Among them, more than 22,000 families who were allocated land through paper plans in the South Sabah Al-Ahmad City project are specifically waiting for the completion of essential infrastructure and main roads. Only then can they receive the necessary permits to begin constructing their long-awaited homes.
According to the latest official statistics released by the Public Institution for Housing Welfare in its November 2024 monthly report, the number of existing housing applications includes those registered from 1985 until November 2024. These figures were announced last December by the institution’s official spokesperson, Deputy Director General for Public Relations and Development, Omar Al-Ruwaih.
Notably, the Housing Authority announced last July that its Board of Directors would review the mechanism for developing housing distributions during its meeting in the second week of the month, ensuring that the process aligns with the interests of citizens with existing requests.
Al-Jarida reviewed the latest figures announced by the Public Institution for Housing Welfare, covering the distribution of existing housing projects in South Saad Al-Abdullah, the progress of infrastructure contracts and main roads in South Sabah Al-Ahmad City, as well as homes allocated under the “for those who sold their homes” category in the East Sabah Al-Ahmad project, along with several other projects across the northern and southern regions of the country.
According to the Public Institution for Housing Welfare’s monthly report for November 2024, announced by its official spokesperson Omar Al-Ruwaih, significant progress has been made in the South Sabah Al-Ahmad project. By the end of November, the infrastructure contract had reached 38.66 percent completion, surpassing the assumed contractual rate of 24.49 percent for the same period. Meanwhile, work is also underway on the infrastructure and main roads of the South Saad Al-Abdullah City project, with the completion rate exceeding 13 percent as of last month.
Regarding the East Sabah Al-Ahmad project, which includes 1,184 houses for the “those who sold their homes” category, the Public Institution for Housing Welfare is nearing completion. The institution has fully received the first contract, which includes 587 houses with a 100 percent completion rate. Meanwhile, the second contract has reached 91.64 percent completion as of the end of last November, with ongoing efforts to finalize the remaining work and hand it over to the supervising engineering teams.
Regarding the distribution of the South Saad Al-Abdullah Housing Project, the second-largest residential city after Mutlaa City, a total of 16,643 housing units have been allocated out of 24,508 since distributions were halted in July 2024. This leaves 6,908 units yet to be distributed, excluding the project’s eastern expansion, which spans 6.8 square kilometers and was approved by the Municipal Council in September 2024.
The Housing Authority announced that by the end of last November, it had issued 32,216 certificates to facilitate the issuance of building permits for citizens owning residential plots in Mutlaa City, Southern Khaitan, and South Abdullah Al-Mubarak. Additionally, it registered 4,870 allocation requests for existing housing projects.
41.7 Thousand Rental Allowance Transactions
The Housing Authority, in its business statistics for 2024, announced that it processed 41,737 rental allowance requests, costing over 6.2 million dinars per month. These expenses add to the overall financial burden on the general budget.
The Public Institution for Housing Welfare provides a monthly rental allowance of 150 dinars to eligible families. With the number of existing housing applications reaching 98,359 by November 2024, and assuming all these families receive the allowance, the estimated annual cost would amount to approximately 177 million dinars.
However, the actual figure may vary based on the number of families genuinely eligible for the rent allowance. Additionally, payments may be suspended in certain cases, such as when a family receives a residence or a housing allowance from their employer.
