The Ministry of Finance has “assigned the State Property Department to prepare a study to set a new price list for all state properties,” noting that “one of the objectives of the expected study is to reconsider the pricing of state lands on which private schools and universities are built” including projects, private hospitals, multi-story car parks, resorts, parks and slaughterhouses, Al-Rai daily reported.
It seems the government is not in the mood of exploiting only the Chalet areas, as it is clear that the rent checklist will be more comprehensive to extend the fees of all these properties.
The Al-Rai sources did not set a specific ceiling for the targeted increase, but indicated that “any rental increase that the prospective study will produce will be according to the location and the area.”
According to the current applicable prices, the allowance for utilizing a square meter in private school and private university projects built on state property in the Capital Governorate and Hawalli is about 7,750 dinars for the first 6 thousand meters, and 400 fils for the rest of the area, and the rest of the governorates 4,750 dinars.
The sources pointed out that according to Regulation No. 40, the pricing of state property must be reconsidered every 3 years, noting that the last update of prices was applied in April 2017, which means that the scheduled price review date exceeded the period stipulated in the regulation by about a year and a half.
The currently applied regulation for the allowance for the exploitation of private state property has seen increases varying between 100 and 150 percent, while these rents have not seen any changes for many years.
The sources did not rule out that the rent allowance increases would include plots of land, markets, cooperative societies, farms and the usufruct of activities.
According to the current practice, the annual rent per square meter in the ministries complex is 180 dinars for banks and telecommunications companies, while the kiosks inside the complex pay 90 dinars, and shops about 147.5 dinars.
As for resort and park projects, the rent per square meter for chalets is about 2.12 dinars, and the same for investment buildings, and for open lands, it is about 400 fils.