Corruption in housing
engineer hammoud al-enzi, a member of the municipal council, has warned of the apparent defect in the implementation of the housing policy in the country. he said this defect is exploited by many, which has not only resulted in bad services but also the very infrastructure, security situation, and other negativities.
the housing in kuwait is divided into three urban areas – private housing which is in the villa system suitable for a single-family; investment housing, an apartment system high rise buildings mostly suitable for residence for expatriates and their families; and the so-called ‘bachelor’ housing for single male workers. as for the commercial areas, they are buildings suitable for offices and stores and a portion of them may be allocated to private housing.
this is the housing system in kuwait, but overlap in this system is very vivid and the examples of this can be found in surah, jabriya, salwa, and other areas, and that has caused countless problems.
the problem started when the demand for investment housing increased, so the value of investment land increased. the owners went to buy land in private housing areas, using different methods, bribery, or influence and built high-density residential apartments in them, which put pressure on traffic, infrastructure, lack of parking space and other problems and all that the ‘municipality’ could do was to insist that the building should have only one electricity meter.
therefore, it is not surprising that the price of a housing plot in an area like jabriya is one million dinars because whoever will buy it will build a housing complex and that will bring better returns than an investment building. how can government employees buy a plot and build a house on such a priceless piece of land?
as for some areas of housing investment, and the remote ones, in particular, the owners have converted them into housing for workers, so that the number of people living in one apartment in jleeb al-shuyoukh, for example, is thirty men (living in a space which can accommodate 3 or 4 people.
this is one of the reasons this area is facing security and environmental disasters and no government has been able to do anything about it and this is happening due to legislative corruption with government support and incompetence.
the government has also failed to build modern and exemplary worker housing areas, which has further exacerbated the problem.
engineer al-enzi believes the solution is in government hands and can implement it whenever it ‘has a will to’, especially since the housing law allows the government to do a lot. the solution rests in implementing the following:
1 - stop immediately issuing licenses to build apartment buildings in private housing areas.
2 - identifying residential apartments in these areas and imposing high fees on them, in order to become unattractive to the apartment system.
3 - raising the rates of building investment housing and making it more attractive to investors.
4 - the public authority for housing welfare (pahw) builds workers’ cities and prevents their housing in investment areas.
5 - the pahw builds high-end villas, in the vacant residential areas, and put them at the disposal of kuwaiti families – those who are willing to rent.
