The Shoura Council urged the Housing Ministry on Monday to gear up to meet the growing demand for more housing units in the Kingdom.

The request was made by the Shoura during its 18th regular session held under the chairmanship of President Abdullah Al-Asheikh on Monday.

Yahya bin Abdullah Al-Samaan, assistant speaker, said the members were commenting on a report prepared by the Committee of Haj, Housing and Services based on the annual report of the Housing Ministry for the year 1434-1435.

The ministry is still lagging in meeting the growing demand for housing units, a member said, adding that the accomplishment rate of its projects has not exceeded 20 percent.

“In the light of the tremendous gap between supply and demand — a deficit of one million housing units — the ministry was unable to meet no more than 10 percent of the people’s needs, a matter that presses the ministry to think in a constructive way to solve the problem,” said another member.

Meanwhile, another member called for coordination between the Housing Ministry and the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) on how to solve the delay in the implementation of the ministry’s projects. One member called for direct financing to citizens through the REDF which, he said, had succeeded in supporting the urban growth. He suggested that part of the SR250 billion housing fund be injected into the REDF to speed up provision of property loans.

In this context, one member urged the Housing Ministry to intervene and streamline the apartment ownership market and regulate relationship between tenants, landlords and developers. Another female member said the ministry is required to supply suitable housing units.

According to a recent study, the Kingdom needs 300,000 residential units every year over the next 15 years, a total of 4.5 million. In Riyadh, the lack of affordable homes is especially acute — a shortage of 225,000 residential units.

Established by a Royal Decree, the REDF began its activities in 1975 to provide loans to citizens to help them construct their own homes and for investment purposes. It commenced operations with a capital of SR250 million and later increased to SR82,769 million.

During the first 25 years from its inception, REDF granted 443,842 private loans as well as 2,488 investment loans, with a total value of SR120,144 million, resulting in the construction of 555,866 residential units. The fund’s services have so far reached 3,976 cities, villages and remote areas all over the Kingdom.

At the close of discussions, Al-Samaan said the Shoura agreed to grant more time to the committee members to come up with recommendations based on the above discussions in the upcoming session. The council listened to a report prepared by the Committee of Transport, Telecommunications and IT based on the annual report of the Telecom and IT Ministry for 1434-1435 which was presented by Chairman Jibreel Al-Arishi.

The Shoura members called on the Telecom and IT Ministry to fix an alternate location for the infrastructure center as a “disaster recovery center” in another city. They also called on the ministry to lay down a national program to train and qualify Saudi cadres to run and operate information centers in the Kingdom.

Later, the council discussed a report prepared by the Committee of Water and Agriculture based on the annual report of the Saudi Geological Survey for 1434-1435.

The committee asked the survey department to provide its implemented projects and coordinate with the Ministry of Petroleum to determine its impact on the multiplicity of the Kingdom’s income sources.

The council also agreed on the suitability of the draft study on a national commission for social responsibility, he said.

At the outset of the meeting, the council approved a draft memo of cooperation between the Ministry of Economy and Planning and the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry based on a report prepared by the committee of economy and energy which was read out by Chairman Saleh Al-Hussain.