Muscat: The Oman Housing Bank, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, has launched the "Iskan" program with the objective of expediting the provision of financing to individuals on the waiting list at the bank and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning. The program aims to finance over 60,000 families within the next five years.
Under the patronage of His Excellency Sultan bin Salem Al Habsi, Minister of Finance, the ceremony was attended by esteemed individuals including the Chairman and members of the Board of Directors of the Oman Housing Bank, CEOs of local banks, economic experts, specialists, and local media at the Al Bustan Palace Hotel.
Zaher bin Marhoon Al Abri, the Director General of Treasury and Accounts at the Ministry of Finance, stated that in its initial phase, the program aims to finance more than 60,000 families within the next five years. He expressed his optimism that the program would expedite the financing process, with a maximum waiting period of 6 months from the completion of the application.
Al Abri further explained that the "Iskan" program will involve both traditional and Islamic local banks through a banking conglomerate, providing a lending portfolio worth OMR 1.9 billion over the next five years. This will ensure the necessary financial liquidity to ensure the success of the program.
Emphasizing the Ministry of Finance's commitment, Al Abri highlighted that they will provide the required financing to support loan interest based on the prevailing support segments at the Oman Housing Bank.
Musa bin Masoud Al Jadidi, CEO of the Oman Housing Bank, gave a visual presentation in which he stressed that the Iskan program will contribute to accelerating the mechanism of disbursing housing financing through the electronic platform “Iskan”. Through the platform, eligible citizens will be able to submit the required data and documents, know their roles, and choose the bank from which each citizen wishes to obtain subsidized housing financing in accordance with the requirements of the Oman Housing Bank. In addition to the specific requirements for obtaining financing, the possibility of obtaining financing or not, knowing the eligibility and entitlement conditions, the targeted income groups, and the fee that the citizen bears for each interest rate.
Al Jadedi said that the bank will list the lists of citizens eligible for the round according to seniority, upload them to the electronic platform “Iskan,” and send an SMS when the round arrives for each eligible person. The text message will include a direct link to the application submission page via the electronic platform. The citizen can view all the procedures necessary to obtain housing financing, starting from submitting the application and entering data, and ending with the stage of obtaining financing and evaluating the process.
Al Jadedi highlighted that eligible citizens can receive a maximum financing amount of OMR 60,000, while citizens interested in purchasing residential units in Sultan Haitham City and other integrated city projects implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning can receive up to OMR 80,000.
According to the CEO of the Oman Housing Bank, statistics reveal that the bank has provided over 56,000 subsidized financing options to citizens since its establishment in 1977 until the end of 2022. These financing options, available through the bank's branches across various governorates and wilayats of the Sultanate of Oman, have a total value exceeding OMR 1.5 billion.
Al Jadidi pointed out that the challenges that led to the development of these financing solutions were the high number of applications, which exceeded 61,000. Out of these, more than 49,000 applications were referred by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning to the Oman Housing Bank, and the bank's own list included over 11,000 applications.
Regarding the strategic objectives of the "Housing" program, Musa Al Jadidi emphasized that they encompassed several goals. The first objective is to work towards achieving social welfare and a sustainable life for all citizens. Additionally, the program aims to provide a comprehensive housing program that ensures the financing of over 50,000 housing units within a span of 5 years. This initiative contributes to the urban strategy for the development of sustainable governorates and cities. Furthermore, the program aims to reduce the waiting period from fifteen years to less than 6 months within 5 years, while also promoting economic diversification through housing financing.
During the commencement of the program, over 60,000 citizens who had applied for housing financing were notified via text messages based on their seniority. Furthermore, on a monthly basis, more than 900 financing applications will be approved in accordance with seniority, signifying the initiation of financing operations in a new format, departing from the traditional methods previously employed.
