One of us suggested that the problem could be solved by building a million housing units in one year with the help of international construction companies. Another proposed to buy a large number of apartments and give them to students upon graduation. A third asked for paying a housing allowance to all public and private sector Saudi employees. A fourth asked the government to regain ownership of its vast lands so as to distribute them among citizens. We discussed other issues that I do not remember now.

My reply was that all these solutions were impractical. I told them that the government had adopted similar solutions, but none of them worked. The government allotted SR250 billion to the Ministry of Housing to build 500,000 housing units in five years, but nothing has been done so far.

The problem, however, does not lie in construction; it lies in the purchasing ability of citizens to own these houses and pay their annual installments, apart from the suitability of these houses to their daily necessities including vicinity of working places, schools and hospitals.

One of us said the biggest mistake was disbursing this huge amount of money through government red tape. He said the funds should have been given to the private sector instead. On the other hand, he noted that even if the private sector was able to deliver, there would still be another problem. The private sector would not be willing to sell these houses to citizens at prices they could afford.

The solution to any problem comes only through its clear perception and understanding. The figures indicate that we need 135,000 housing units every year, which will cost about SR80 billion.

Not more than 30,000 units were actually built in the Kingdom in a year, most of them by individuals through private means. Saudi banks extended finances worth SR17 billion for the construction of houses. The Human Resources Development Fund succeeded only in the beginning, but when the demand for houses increased, its resources quickly depleted.

It is obvious that the main hurdle facing the construction of homes is finance. If the citizen was given sufficient funds, about 90 percent of the obstacles to own a house would be solved. The remaining hurdles would be easy to overcome as they mostly relate to routine government procedures including construction licenses, specifications, and basic infrastructure.

Financial resources, however, will not be effective if they are not protected by rules and regulations to guarantee the rights of everyone involved. Money is not useful if it is not properly managed. The private sector is more capable of managing funds than the public sector.

If the SR250 billion and the capital of the Human Resources Development Fund were used to establish a financing company owned both by the government and the private sector, this company would be able to extend easy loans to build houses.