• Target to distribute 23,000 plots in 2022; 8,000 already distributed. Urban planning meant to balance elements of development
• Drafts of laws on Real Estate Development, Unified Addressing System and Expropriation for the Public Benefit completed
• 1,259 applications for housing assistance worth RO 30 million given in 2021
• Four out of every five plots went to women constituting 78 per cent of beneficiaries
• Reduced the percentage of fees for land sales transactions from 5 per cent to 3 per cent
• Number of transactions reached more than 205,000 from 2021 until April of this year, with a trading value exceeding RO 3.2 billion
The government is on course to complete the distribution of plots for 23,000 applications, Dr Khalfan al Shueili, Minister of Housing and Urban Planning told Majlis Ash’shura members while disclosing the ministry’s plans on Sunday. The minister shed light on several topics such as public policies for housing and urban planning, a study of the reality of land reconstruction and partnership with the private sector. "The drafts of Real Estate Development Law, the Unified Addressing System Law and the Law of Expropriation for the Public Benefit have been completed. Work is under way to prepare a draft to amend the real estate registry system, as well as the Housing Law and the Urban Planning Law, "he said, indicating these will be referred to the Council of Oman.
The ministry is also planning to expand the National Initiative for Integrated Residential Neighbourhoods 'Sorouh' by offering three new sites with more than 4,000 housing units. It is also planning to offer 10 more sites across governorates this year.
Dr Al Shueili said four out of every five plots went to women constituting 78 per cent of beneficiaries, he noted. "The biggest problem is in Muscat, where there are more than 50,000 applications annually'', he said and added that Omani families deserved buildable residential plots.
The minister’s statement included five main areas: General policies for housing and urban planning; a study on land reconstruction in the Sultanate of Oman; ministry's objectives during the Tenth five-year plan period 2021-2025, the ministry's role within the projects and programmes of vital sectors within the framework of the Tenth five-year development plan 2021-2025; and partnership projects with the private sector for the cooperative housing system.
The Minister of Housing touched upon Royal Decree No 42/2021 regarding the grant of government lands and the different opinions raised by some segments of society about its objectives. He stated that the ministry dealt with these views by studying them with complete objectivity and sharing them with relevant authorities to find out the most important observations.
On digital measures, Dr Al Shueili said that the ministry had made significant strides in achieving digital readiness by launching several digital platforms including integrated services platform, Amlak; real estate development platform, Tatweer; geographical information gateway platform, Gio Oman; Internal correspondence System, Salasa and 'Choose Your Land' service platform to grant residential lands. The minister said: "The Ministry adopts several measures to provide integrated, fast, efficient and high-quality services. Among these measures are strengthening the decentralisation in conjunction with the implementation of the comprehensive digital transformation plan, expanding the powers granted to general managers in all fields, reviewing service fees and engineering procedures, strengthening partnership with the private sector and developing some unified service outlets.”
"Tenders have been issued to construct new buildings for the General Directorates of Housing and Urban Planning in Al Dhahirah and South Al Sharqiyah governorates'', he said.
He added that the ministry, in support of the real estate sector and within the framework of its plan to provide more stimulus packages, reduced the percentage of fees for land sales transactions from 5 per cent to 3 per cent. As a result, the number of legal transactions reached more than 205,000 from 2021 until April of this year, with a trading value exceeding RO 3.2 billion.
The ministry has also provided usufruct land, the most important of which are for food security projects that achieve development goals, have qualitative value and constitute added-value. "The number of usufruct contracts exceeded 9,000. The ministry is working to offer 430 usufruct plots with fees set for each purpose and 200 usufruct deals by bidding, distributed over all the governorates of the Sultanate of Oman. This contributes to achieving the goals related to the economic sectors and is part of the government's integration steps aimed at sustainable growth in accordance with the frameworks set by the urban strategy'', he explained.
In addition, one of the ministry's objectives is to distribute residential lands according to an approved methodology that takes into account the gradation in the specified number of distributions to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the "Choose Your Land" platform after linking with the relevant government agencies. "In this context, the distribution of nearly 8,000 residential plots has been completed by mid-June'', Dr Al Shueili said.
The ministry also studied and decided on about 35,000 requests to prove and register properties from 2020 to April 2022, while more than 27,000 requests are targeted in the next phase.
"Among the achievements is giving away 1,259 housing assistance worth RO 30 million during 2021. The recent royal orders to strengthen the housing assistance programme with RO 70 million during the current five-year plan will cover nearly 2,800 applications and exempt 1,836 cases from the housing loans, with a total amount of more than RO 33 million.
In addition, there is a move to expand the National Initiative for Integrated Residential Neighbourhoods 'Sorouh' by offering three new sites for more than 4,000 housing units. There is also an initiative to bid on ten sites distributed over the governorates during this year'', the minister confirmed.
He elaborated that in view of the suspension of the housing assistance programme since 2015 and in view of dealing with the housing loan programme, the ministry is seeking with the concerned authorities to agree to transfer the programme to the Oman Housing Bank to facilitate the process of deciding on the applications. The ministry confirmed that the applications retain the right of seniority and registration controls and that the government will continue to support this programme.
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