Construction of 4,800 EP houses halted

A labourer walks past a construction site in Riyadh, in this file photo. (REUTERS)

DAMMAM: The Ministry of Housing has stopped the Housing 2 project in Dammam, which includes the establishment of 4,800 housing units further notice.

Sources reveal the ministry issued an official letter on Thursday to eight Saudi development companies that won bids to build and sell 4,800 housing units, instructing them not to start implementing the new housing project along the Riyadh-Dammam-Qatif highway.
The decision has posed significant losses for development companies that have been linked to the ministry via official contracts, as well as with housing beneficiaries expecting to receive the completed project within 24 months.
The eight companies had recently completed the internal and external outlines, and designs of the project and were prepared to begin work, but the decision has halted the process and called for redesign of internal and external areas. Previous designs cost more than SR80 million.
The redesigning of the project will further delay it by six months to a year, while more than 80 percent of the entire Housing 2 project already includes contracts with citizen beneficiaries registered via the Ministry of Housing’s online portal.
An official at the ministry said the decision was made by the General Department for Real Estate Development at the ministry because of related developments and the ministry’s aim to raise land utilization to serve more individuals entitled to receive housing support.
The decision calls on the eight developers to provide the ministry with proposed plans for buildings after taking into account important requirements and standards, such as increasing the percentage of construction and building areas to cover up to 50 percent of the land area, ensuring buildings include a maximum of seven stories, and increasing construction to include a maximum of three apartments on each floor. The ministry called for developers to comply with these requirements and accordingly provide several other new designs.
The project includes 4,800 housing units, while five companies have already successfully signed contracts with beneficiaries within a period ranging from one to five months. Three companies have not yet signed any contract with beneficiaries despite pledging to enter into such contracts within six months, due to poor designs, including entrances, room distribution and lack of important and basic services such as educational, health and other service facilities.