Construction of 1,600 villas for nationals approved

Over 1,600 residential villas have been approved for construction for UAE nationals by the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme (SZHP) for Dubai and Northern Emirates, said a senior official of the organisation.

SZHP has already approved housing projects worth Dh577 million up to July this year, out of an annual allocation of Dh650 million.

"We are allocating up to Dh500,000 for an individual applicant for housing purpose for those who need support in constructing their houses and we have approved grants worth Dh577 million from January to July this year," said Faisal Abdullah Al Gurg, General Manager of SZHP.

"The programme was established in 2000 to support UAE nationals for their housing needs and since then, we have had disbursed Dh800 million and Dh535 million in 2000 and 2001 respectively.

"In 2000, 1,812 UAE nationals received housing grants while 1,307 people received grants last year.

"This year, we have witnessed a higher number of applicants. By July, it crossed last year's figure and more and more people are applying for the grants. In total, we have approved Dh1.9 billion worth of grants to 4,698 applicants in two-and-a-half years of operation."

He said the housing programme is being funded by extraordinary funds made available by UAE Central Bank in which Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) is also contributing.

Under the programme, SZHP receives applications from UAE nationals, which are scrutinised by a committee that assesses the person's housing requirements.

"Once that's done, we ask the applicant to hire a consultant and get the designs done according to his priorities and choice. After a review on the valuation of the project, the applicant hires a construction firm to execute the project and we disburse the funds allocated for him," he said.

"If the cost of the project is higher than the allocation, the applicant takes care of the extra. From our office, we cover the entire six states in the northern emirates region.

"We have requested the government to increase allocation as the number of applicants is growing every year."

Al Gurg said that initially they used to offer three options to the applicants. One was offering loans, giving grants as gifts, and finally building houses and giving the ready-made house to them.

But from last year, under the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, SZHP has stopped offering loans, and converted them into grants.