UAE | Housing & Property

Federal council accuses housing scheme of favouritism and nepotism

The Federal National Council (FNC) on Monday questioned the impartiality of the Zayed Housing Programme, the sole federal scheme in the UAE responsible for building houses and offering housing loans.

  • By Samir Salama, Associate Editor
  • Published: 22:54 February 11, 2008
  • Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: The Federal National Council (FNC) on Monday questioned the impartiality of the Zayed Housing Programme, the sole federal scheme in the UAE responsible for building houses and offering housing loans.

FNC members said scores of citizens had been waiting for houses or housing loans for over 25 years. They said the scheme had also failed to implement an order by the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan waiving loans offered to Emiratis between 2000 and 2004.

"Scores of Emiratis who applied for houses or housing loans since 1980 have not received anything, while others who applied only six months ago found their names on the lists of beneficiaries of the scheme. Would this not question the impartiality of the programme?" asked Abdul Rahim Al Shahin, an FNC member from Ras Al Khaimah.

He added the scheme favoured certain categories and favouritism and nepotism had influenced the distribution of loans and houses.

Abdullah Bin Hen Al Shehi, also from RAK, said the scheme had started to refund grants ordered by Shaikh Zayed for Emiratis who benefited from it between 2000 and 2004. Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Public Works, said the Government's initiative is the biggest housing project in the UAE's history.

Beneficiaries are categorised based on their financial and social status. Shaikh Hamdan, however, admitted some discrepancies may occur because some municipalities do not provide accurate information. He agreed the programme's criteria could be changed to make the distribution of loans and houses more impartial by a committee from the FNC.

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