Home builders to get 30,000 dinar in building materials subsidies

The National Assembly approved in its session on Wednesday the proposal for the draft law allowing home construction borrowers from the government to have subsidized building materials not exceeding KD 30, 000 in total value. The lawmakers turned over the draft law to the government for endorsement. Applauding the draft law was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce and Industry Abdumohsen Al-Mad'aj, who indicated, during the discussion of the law in today's session, that getting subsidized building materials would be a lot more beneficial for the home builder who uses a government loan to build their home, than to have their loan amount increased to the proposed KD 100, 000, up from the KD 70,000 which borrowers currently get. Why incur a longer payment schedule with a KD 100,000 loan rather than the more manageable KD 70,000, he asked those critical of the KD 70,000 loan plus KD 30,000 more in subsidized building materials. With a KD 100,000 loan, as some lawmakers prefer, it would take the borrower from 80 to 85 years to pay back in installments, whereas the time period shrinks to 57 years with a KD 70,000 plus subsidies, he argued. The lawmakers also approved in today's session the draft law regarding owning and running private sector child-care centers or nurseries. However the National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim did not see fit to turn the law over to the government for endorsement just yet, pending further tweaking and fine-tuning it. Among certain features of the law is one that allows the opening of a children's nursery in a residential area, not originally zoned for commercial enterprises. Another feature requires the attainment of a license from the ministry of social affairs and labor to own and operate a private sector child-care center or nursery.