TEHRAN- Iran’s deputy transport and urban development minister announced that planning has been made and preparations have been done to start constructing 1.3 million affordable housing units across the country.

Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh said the required regulations have been prepared and facilities have been created to provide land for the mentioned housing units by the next government, ILNA reported on Sunday.

“With the measures taken, the conditions are more favorable for the new government to begin the work,” Mahmoudzadeh noted.

He went on to say that currently, over 534,000 housing units are in various stages of construction and implementation under the framework of the National Housing Action Plan, of which more than 40,000 units have been handed over to the owners.

The official noted that the National Housing Action Plan is not getting any funding from the government and no credit line has been allocated to the project.

The National Housing Action Plan initially aimed 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.

The first phase of the plan which started in August 2019, was completed in May 2020 and several housing units were handed over to the owners in Southern Kerman Province.

At the second stage, 20,000 units were handed over to the applicants in the previous Iranian calendar month (ended on July 22).

Back in March Transport Minister Mohammad Eslami had announced that 510,000 residential units will be provided for the applicants under the framework of the National Housing Action Plan.

Earlier that month Mahmoudzadeh had said that the construction costs for the National Housing Action Plan are set based on the current year’s construction material price list and haven’t changed.

The official made the remarks in response to some rumors about the rise in the prices of such housing units as a result of the increase in construction costs.

EF/MA