Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi has urged banks to collectively raise their lending to 500 trillion rials ($17 billion at official exchange rate) for the controversial Mehr Housing Project.
Under the new call, the loan ceiling for each applicant would increase by 20-30 million rials ($700-1000) and the repayment period will be extended to 20 years from 15 years, Banker news website reported on Monday, citing the minister.
The Mehr project is a large-scale construction program initiated in 2007 by the previous administration to provide two million low-income strata of the society with housing units through free land and cheap credits, but the nationwide scheme slowed down due to lack of funding and led to high inflation.
The new administration has now come up with a similar idea to construct homes for four lowest income deciles. Akhoundi said the new scheme—Social Housing Project—is aimed at providing 125,000 new housing units across the country. In the first phase, nearly 45,000 residential units are set to be built, he added.
