TEHRAN, Iran, July 9
Trend:
Iran's government will increase the amount of land assigned for housing, to 1 million hectares, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said, Trend reports via IRNA.
"The government has already assigned 250,000 hectares near cities and villages to Ministry of Road and Urban Development, to build affordable houses. The amount of land will soon reach 1 million hectares, said Rouhani.
"There was a fall back in housing sector and some of the plans were not implemented since the government was involved in finishing another housing project (Mehr Housing Project)," he said.
"The priority is to provide housing to individuals that applied for the primary housing project, by paying the primary installment to banks. These individuals account for more than 300,000 people," he said.
Rouhani added that a special online system has identified those qualified for the prioritized queue of receiving affordable housing.
Previously member of parliament civil commission Mohammad Reza Rezaikouchi told Trend that Iranian government can reduce housing prices by providing cheap lands to private sector constructors.
He also said that Iran annually needs around 900,000 housing units but only 300,000 units are being built, thus there is a shortage of 4 million housing units.
"Although there are available empty luxury houses in the country, there aren't enough houses for low-income groups. The price of land is one of the causes that led to increase of housing prices. This should be under control, since 80 percent of the house price is based on the price of land," he said.
The MP went on to add that public organizations that own some of the lands, should cooperate with the private sector to build houses affordable to the low-income level of the population.