The Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme has taken 57,000 decisions, since its establishment in 1999, to support housing projects by spending AED30 billion on them, Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development and Chairman of the Programme, said.

"The programme helped build 30,000 homes, while some 27,000 are in the under-construction phase across the Emirates," the minister told the Arab Future Cities Summit 2017 in Dubai on Monday.

The number of residential neighbourhoods completed by the programme reached 788 housing units, while the number of those in the implementation phase was eight, comprising 3,467 housing units, he remarked. All the residential neighbourhoods comply with the criteria and requirements of the two-pearled sustainability programme.

He revealed that four complexes, comprising 1,800 houses, were in the study and planning stage, adding that the cost of the residential neighbourhoods under implementation and other future neighbourhoods would reach some AED7 billion.

The summit, organised by the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme, in partnership with Expotrade Middle East, will be held over two days in Dubai, with the participation of pioneers and decision-makers for future cities, at the local, regional and international level.