Reconstruction loans have been extended to 18,713 applicants (per housing unit) in urban slum areas since last Iranian year (March 2019), says Mohammad Hassan Alamdari, a senior official with Bank Maskan, the state agent bank of the housing sector.
“The total value of these loans stands at 12,600 billion rials [$50 million],” Alamdari was quoted as saying by Hibna.
Loans worth 500 million rials ($2,000) with a lending rate of 9% and renovation loans also worth as much with a lending rate of 18% have been given to owners of homes located in urban slum areas.
“Slum dwellings account for 18% of urban residential areas in Iran, which include more than 2,800 neighborhoods,” says Moslem Seyyedal-Hosseini, a member of the board of directors of Urban Regeneration Corporation of Iran.
“Thirty percent of the country’s urban population live in slum areas and face manifold challenges and problems. In recent years, the number of people living in suburban slums has doubled,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Noting that one-third of the country’s population lives in big cities, the official said, “More than 31.5% of the population lived in cities until five decades ago. Today, urbanites make up 74% of the population.”
As per a memorandum of understanding recently signed between Iranian Municipalities Organization and the Urban Regeneration Corporate Holding Company, affiliated to the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, building permits in slum areas will be granted free of charge.
Earlier, builders who intended to build residential properties in slum areas were entitled to a 50% discount in permit fees. The current MoU offers 100% exemption in permit costs.
Fifty percent exemption in architectural and engineering expenses has also been envisioned in an agreement signed between Iran Construction Engineering Organization and the Interior Ministry’s Development Department to encourage homeowners in slum areas to rebuild their homes.
Director General of Road and Urban Development Organization of Tehran Province Khalil Mohabbatkhah says 4.5 million people of the residents of the province live in decrepit suburban areas.
"Nearly 30% of the population of this province live in urban inefficient and slum areas. There would be no place to shelter these people in case of a hypothetical earthquake," Mohabbatkhah added.
“Eighteen percent of the Iranian population live in Tehran Province while it has 500 vulnerable, worn-out suburban areas,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
