TEHRAN – The Transport and Urban Development Ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for constructing 10,000 affordable housing units for the country’s journalists and artists, under the framework of the National Housing Action Plan.

The MOU was signed on Saturday in a ceremony attended by Transport Minister Mohammad Eslami, IRNA reported.

Speaking in the signing ceremony, Eslami noted that all the necessary preparations have been made in collaboration with the culture ministry and the location and land for the project have been determined.

“We have a duty to provide the ground for people to become homeowners, and in this program [the national housing plan] we have defined the mechanisms in such a way that it reflects a stable policy and a firm determination to realize this goal,” the minister said.

Eslami further pointed to the close communication between the two ministries for the signing of the said MOU, saying: “The signing of this memorandum has been pursued with the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mr. Salehi for a year; it took a long time for this memorandum to be signed today."

“Preliminary steps have been taken and those who are eligible for the projects have been identified. By Mordad 17 [August 8], the people introduced to the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development will be allowed access to the registration system and a text message will be sent to the approved journalists,” he explained.

The official noted that the memorandum also includes constructing affordable houses for other groups of people including artists and in the next step the program will be pursued for those groups.

The National Housing Action Plan aims to construct 400,000 small and medium-size apartments (70-100 square meters in size) across the country and particularly in Tehran, where housing prices have risen most sharply.

EF/MA