Housing Minister Bassem Yacoub Al Hamer has received a parliamentary delegation from the Russian Federation, headed by MP Russel Borisovich, in the presence of First Deputy Speaker Ali Abdullah Al Aradi.
The minister briefed the guests about the Government-provided housing services to low-income citizens over sixty years, including the ministry’s policies, criteria and plans in this regard.

The minister commended the leadership’s and the government’s support to affordable social housing, the ministry’s initiatives and plans aimed to achieve sustainability of the housing dossier in the long term, including Bahrain new cities, partnership with the private sector which achieved substantial success, and the ministry’s disposition to change from a service provider to an organizer of housing services which would boost efficient organizing and management of the social housing dossier in the Kingdom.

The minister also cited the ministry’s recent signing of a cooperation document with the UNDP Office aimed to modernize the country’s housing plan to cope with domestic socio-economic transformations and as part of the ministry’s keenness on modernization of its plans and programmes according to such variables and challenges.

The minister also briefed the delegation about the criteria for low-income citizens’ eligibly to residential services, the categories included and the stages of development of these criteria since the affordable social housing was launched in the Kingdom, and the currently applicable criteria for eligibility.

The Russian delegation expressed their admiration of Bahrain’s experience in the provision of social housing to citizens as well as the ministry’s plans to provide affordable social housing to low-income citizens.

The two sides also reviewed the current bilateral cooperation ties.

Source: BNA