November 14-2014
The Rohani Administration recently announced a new housing program to replace the one that was the apple in the eye of President Ahmadi-nejad.
An announcement said the government is planning to build 800,000 houses over the next 10 years to be leased to low-income Iranians, the Tasnim news agency reported.
The plan would replace the previous government’s housing plan known as Maskan-e Mehr, which was based on a crumbling financial foundation and was canceled last year shortly after Hassan Rohani became president.
The new program will provide housing units of 60 square meters, or 646 square feet. That is the equivalent of 20 feet by 32 feet, or two small rooms by American standards.
The program is to be budgeted for 380 trillion rials ($12 billion) for the coming decade. That would make each house cost 475 million rials ($15,000).
Critics said the plan would become a heavy financial burden on the government.
In 2007, then President Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad offered free land and cheap credit to contractors in a bid to provide two million housing units for low-income Iranians. It was his signature program and the one he said he was most proud of.
But the national project slowed down later due to lack of finances. The new administration says the project added too much liquidity to the economy and was a major factor in pushing inflation passed 40 percent.
