By IINA,
Ramallah : The Palestinian government unveiled a plan yesterday to build 30,000 affordable apartments over five years and offer $500 million (315 million euros) in long-term mortgages. The construction is meant to create thousands of jobs and ease a severe housing shortage. The Palestinians need 65,000 apartments now, and demand is growing by 11,000 homes ever year, officials said.
Under the plan, ten new suburbs would be built in the West Bank and Gaza, each with a commercial center, school and mosque. The Gaza part of the plan will be on hold as long as Hamas remains in control there, said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who attended the launch of the project. Abbas said such economic development would give the Palestinians more faith in a better future. The housing project “will make Palestinians feel that peace and security is bringing them a better life,” he said.
The $1.5 billion (1 billion euro) construction project will be overseen by the Palestine Investment Fund, which hopes to bring in private investors from the Palestinian territories and the Arab world. Long-term mortgages are rare in the Palestinian territories, where most would-be homeowners save for long periods, borrow from relatives or build their homes over many years.
The contributions for the $500 million home finance company will come, among others, from the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, the Palestine Investment Fund and the Bank of Palestine. OPIC is the largest contributor with $250 million (158 million euros).