Officials look at the project model.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Housing has signed a major agreement with Diyar Al Muharraq, one of the country’s leading urban developer, for the purchase of 3,100 residential units at its upcoming residential project.

The deal for the new housing units, which will be enrolled under the Ministry’s Social Housing Programme, was sealed by the ministry for BD276 million ($727 million).

The agreement was signed by the Minister of Housing Basim Al Hamer and the chief executive of Diyar Al Muharraq Dr Maher Al Shaer in the presence of the chairman of Kuwait Finance House (Bahrain) Ahmed Alaiban and top officials.

The land allocated for the social housing units is on the southern side of Diyar Al Muharraq, in close proximity to Diyar Homes.

As per the deal, Diyar Al Muharraq will undertake financing of all construction works for the project, its associated primary and secondary infrastructures and community centres with due support from Kuwait Finance House (Bahrain), key shareholders in Diyar Al Muharraq project.

The Bahraini developer is likely to begin work at the site in October and hand over the residential units in December 2018.

On the deal, Al Hamer said: “This is indeed a very important agreement as it is the largest agreement of its type for cooperation between the private and public sectors and will surely have far-reaching positive consequences for all the citizens.”

The Minister of Housing stressed that these residential units in Diyar Al Muharraq will be offered for sale within the social housing programme at a cost in accordance with finance amounts granted by banks participating in this scheme.

“These units will be constructed according to the standards and technical specifications applied by the ministry in all its housing projects,” said Basim Al Hamer.

Diyar Al Muharraq has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning to facilitate the process of issuing building permits for third-party developers at its ambitious Diyar Al Muharraq project.  Under the MoU, Diyar Al Muharraq will authorise its technical interface office (TIO) to liaise on its behalf with the Muharraq Municipality, explained Dr Al Shaer.