Emiratis living in old houses asked to apply for new ones
posted on 18/12/2008
Emiratis in Ras Al Khaimah, who are living in dilapidated homes, have been asked to approach the Zayed Housing Programme and the Saud Housing Programme to seek new accommodations.
The Ras Al Khaimah Municipality’s announcement came after a survey of old houses, especially in the remote areas of the emirate, showed that the housing units were not up to the standards and some of them posed risk to the inhabitants, municipal officials said. The Chairman of Ras Al Khaimah Municipality, Mubarak Ali Al Shamsi, who is also the President of the Saud Housing Programme and one of the board members of the Zayed Housing Programme in Ras Al Khaimah, said all the families with old houses should register with the housing programmes in the emirate in order to get new houses.
Al Shamsi noted that so far about 8,000 Emiratis in Ras Al Khaimah had applied to XXXX the Zayed Housing Foundation and the Saud Housing Programme, of which 6,000 had already been given possession of new houses.
Around 500 families in the remote and mountainous areas of Kadrat Al Nihiya and Al Mahitah, about 30km from Ras Al Khaimah city, were reportedly living in dilapidated houses that were built 40 years ago.
He stressed that the UAE rulers had initiated programmes to provide accommodations to Emirati families and youths who could not afford a decent place to live in due to the high costs of land and construction material."All families and youths in the emirate should utilise this opportunity and apply for new houses and avoid staying in old houses that could harm their lives,” he said.
Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah has also promised to meet the housing needs of the residents and the government had already allocated land for building houses for nationals, said Al Shamsi. Early this year, Ras Al Khaimah Municipality had started demolition of all the dilapidated houses in the emirate. At present, there are more than 4,800 such houses in the emirate. – Khaleej Times
