National housing plan to launch 1,000 villas

The Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme (SZHP) plans to launch 1,000 more units next year, with the tender likely to be announced in the first quarter of 2018, said a senior official.

"We launched 2,500 villas this year across the UAE and more than 1,000 are under construction right now. Construction on some of them has already started, such as 729 units in Ajman while the rest are in design and tender stages," said Basem Mohammed Al Namer, director for engineering services department at SZHP.

Currently, villas are under construction in Dubai, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah.

SZHP was established to provide suitable housing for UAE national families in order to achieve the government's aspirations of providing a high standard of living for its citizens. "Next year, more than 1,000 villas will be launched and tenders floated in the first quarter. The average price for the biggest villas, consisting of four bedrooms, is between Dh1 to Dh1.2 million, depending on the emirate. "We are trying our best to keep the minimum cost for our projects. Our plan is bring the villas' price within Dh1 million, for the 4-bedroom unit. The 2- and 3-bedroom villas cost Dh700,000-800,000, to make it more affordable for residents," Al Amer said on Tuesday, during an interview on the sidelines of the Arab Future Cities Summit.

He revealed that 30,000 villas have been completed from 2000 until now, at a cost of Dh3 billion. Around 57,000 citizens took financial support under the programme. "Now, we have completed two projects in Sharjah and Fujariah and five are under construction and three are in the design and tender stages," he said.

Al Amer revealed that an agreement has been signed with Masdar and Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme to upgrade the villas to more eco-friendly standards.

Source: Khaleej Times