Crown Prince sets target for Kingdom to build one million residential units in five years
PIF-backed real estate developer Roshn will be responsible for delivering the units
An ambitious target to build one million affordable residential units over the next five years through developer Roshn, has been set by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
According to a report by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), in an interview transmitted on the state’s most important Arab television channels, Prince Mohammed unveiled the most important achievements of the Kingdom Vision 2030 programmes and projects over the past five years.
Roshn venture, which aims to meet 25% of the Saudi demand, is eyeing a low profit margin of 22.5% on 3% to make the housing units affordable for citizens, the report stated.
“Fortunately, Roshn has been established and the Ministry of Housing has carried out its duties in cooperation with other stakeholders. Under the Saudi Vision 2030, Roshn is set to provide around one million national housing units as per the first objective, while the second objective of Roshn unfortunately means that more than 95% of the real estate developers are very primitive, drawing the designs and failed to deliver the sewage, water, electricity and telecommunications services,” explained Prince Mohammed.
Slamming the developers, he added, “They were selling designs without any services to citizens who build their houses and then the suffering begins.” He pointed out that, owing to this, citizens were plagued with poor infrastructure services in their neighborhoods.
He elaborated, “The country is in dire need of strong real estate developers adopting international standards in place in advanced countries and this is the second objective of Roshn, which plans to meet 25% of the Saudi demand. However, no one would buy from the private sector if they fail to apply the same standards of Roshn.”
Prince Mohammed noted that the Roshn Company targets the development of the real estate sector in the Kingdom to meet part of the existing demand. Commenting on the developer’s standards, he remarked, “The biggest advantage of buying units from there is that not only you get standard housing at a reasonable rate compared to the other real estate funds but also water, sewage, pedestrian and all other services are guaranteed. The best part is one need not go out of the neighborhood community for any of their daily needs.”
Commenting on challenges, the Crown Prince stated, “The biggest problem was to increase the housing percentage, as it was considerably low compared with the international standard of 60%. I was worried because it was a very challenging period that required a comprehensive restructuring for the central government with complete tools all coupled with the challenge of restructuring the Ministry of Housing and unable to meet the envisioned goals in a very short time during the past four years. With the existence of such concerns and challenges and the inability or delay of the Ministry of Housing to achieve the necessary preparedness levels, the Roshn venture has been launched in light of the expected growing demand for housing units during the next ten years which may exceed four million.”
The Prince also said that since its launch, Roshn had been registering steady growth and its profits have seen an increase of 7% or higher with its housing projects.
