TEHRAN – Iran’s newly appointed Transport and Urban Development Minister Rostam Qassemi said his ministry will strongly pursue the National Housing Action Plan during his tenure, IRNA reported.

“The implementation and completion of the National Housing Action Plan, for which a lot of efforts have been made, will continue in the 13th government,” Qassemi said on Thursday.

“Providing affordable housing for lower classes is the priority of the ministry,” he stressed.

Underlining some of his ministry’s major plans during his office, the official said: “Strengthening various sectors of transport including land, air, sea and rail will be on the agenda and we will try to increase the share of transport in the country’s Gross Domestic Product.”

The official further noted that his ministry will try to complete the semi-finished projects and fulfill the demands of the government and people.

Started in winter 2018, 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.

Nearly half of the total number of the said houses will be constructed in Tehran’s suburban “new towns” such as Parand and Pardis, respectively located in the west and east of the city.

Back in March, former 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 during the current year.

In early September 2019, the registration of the National Housing Action Plan was started from Kerman Province. The second round of registration began in ten other provinces in November that year.

Applicants in Sistan-Baluchestan, Qom, North Khorasan and South Khorasan provinces registered first and those from Kordestan, Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad, and Golestan came in the second stage, while from Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Hamedan, and Yazd provinces came in the third stage.

EF/MA