DAMMAM: There needs to be beefed up coordination between the government sector and private developers and investors to address the critical housing problem in Saudi Arabia. This was the main recommendation of the three-day First Built Environment Development Symposium that ended here last week. The symposium's participants had wide-ranging discussions on the problems associated with sustainable housing in the Kingdom. Dr. Ali Mohammed Al-Garni, head of the organizing committee and Dean of the College of Architecture and Planning at Dammam University, summed up the outcome of the symposium and said there needs to be urgent and close coordination between the government and all the players in the housing industry, including developers, investors, construction companies, public and private financiers, and academia. “We all need to cooperate to find solutions to the housing problems facing us, to establish a sustainable housing environment for our citizens,” said Al-Garni. Hamed Mohammed Hamri, chief executive officer of Tamkean Investment & Real Estate Development Company, addressing the symposium on the constraints facing the country's real estate sector and its impact on real estate investment, said the government has not undertaken a proper study of housing projects. “There is no honest study, cooperation and coordination between government agencies, from the municipal level to the highest bodies concerned with housing, and the private companies,” said Hamri. He said the housing industry is saddled with many problems. “Given the fact that government housing projects take years to complete, we have no professional urban and housing engineers. Fresh university graduates without experience are fielded to execute projects. And construction companies, 90 percent of them without experience in building sustainable housing units, are contracted to do housing projects that often results in low quality units with padded costs,” said Hamri. “In short, the government sector has no capability to monitor, build and undertake housing projects,” he said. Al-Garni said an in-depth study will be conducted by the School of Architecture and Planning, University of Dammam. “We are therefore calling for all parties to join us in coming out with a study that will hopefully address the national vision for sustainable housing,” he said. The problem of financing housing projects was raised by Dr. Sheikh Meeran, a professor at the University of Dammam. He said 70 percent of the Saudi population does not have financing facilities. “If funding is available, repayment of the loans is very low.” He said loans extended by the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) are often treated by the borrowers as charities, and therefore default on payments has remained high. “We need to educate our people to address urban housing problems, adopt our concept of Islamic housing, and discourage our citizens in the rural areas from migrating to urban areas that are already overcrowded,” concluded Al-Garni. The Second Built Environment Development Symposium will be on Oct. 19 to 21, 2012.
