KUWAIT, April 12 (KUNA) -- Up to 90,000 nationals delivered housing applications at the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) till the end of 2009, a ranking official of the authority announced on Monday.
The Deputy Director-General of the PAHW for Investment Affairs and Private Prorects, Issa Khedadah, confirmed that the government "is proceeding with the necessary measures to meet these applications." The authority has recently distributed 880 land lots in the Housing Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad City, said Khedadah in a statement upon inauguration of a real-estate and investment exhibition, organized by the Top-Expo Group for holding fairs and conferences.
Up to 6,000 more lots will be distributed according to the set plans and sketches, Khedadah said, also alluding to the enormous pile of work and complex paper work undertaken by the staff charged with dealing with these applications.
Moreover, up to 1,300 land units were distributed according to the plans northwest of Sulaibikhat, he said, affirming that the authority would double the effort in Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad City for distribution of 2,600 lots during summer.

-- Elaborating, he said, some of the major objectives of the state development strategy is the enacting of a law for construction of housing towns with establishment of shareholding companies, 50 percent of their shares to be secured through public subscription, 40 percent at auctions by private companies listed in the Kuwait Stock Exchange, in addition to companies to be selected by the cabinet as well as 10 percent by government institutions.
The bill has been referred to the National Assembly in an urgent capacity and there is consensus by the government and the parliament on it, he said, hoping that it would be endorsed as a law in April or May.
He indicated at plans to build Khairan town with 36,000 housing units and Al-Metlaa town, 18,000 units, adding that the authorities compel the contractors to execute these projects in six years time.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Malek Bader Al-Salman Al-Sabah, the chairman of expo, said 2009 was a hard year for all national economic sectors, particularly the real-estate, as a result of the international financial crisis.
He confirmed that the domestic property market was distinguished with high offers, low demand and drastic fall of prices, and called for double efforts to cope with impact of the crisis. - Kuna