Libya to Resume Construction 50,000 Houses, Government Says

Πηγή: Bloomberg
By Brigitte Scheffer
August 2 2012

Libya’s Ministry of Housing plans to build 50,000 houses over the next six to 18 months, the government said today.

The planned construction will honor a commitment to urban housing interrupted by last year’s revolt against former dictator Muammar Qaddafi, government spokesman Nasser al Mannae said at a weekly press briefing in Tripoli. He didn’t provide additional details.

“Given the displacement and damage caused by last year’s conflict, there is now a pressing need for a really comprehensive nationwide survey to determine how many houses need to be built and where,” said Beth Hepworth, Director of Frontier MEA, a research and advisory firm that conducted real- estate market feasibility studies in Libya since 2007 and has an office in Tripoli.

There are 70,000 to 90,000 internally displaced persons in Libya, according to UNHCR. Ongoing instability is still forcing people to leave some areas.

“This will go some way to alleviate the housing crisis that is affecting Libya, but our estimates are that more than ten times that number are needed,” said Hatem Benfayed, head of the Tripoli-based Libya Housing Authority.

Editor's note: 

Before last year's "day of rage" and the subsequent revolution a major turmoil broke up related to the housing problem as the population growth is very high in Libya and as a consequence of modernization that led many young people to ask early for a house to leave their family and get married. Qaddafi on a TV presence called to the owners of thousand of newly built apartments - though too late to get ready for deliver - to "go and get them". This resoled to a massive invasion in this new homes from people that did not have ownership in many towns. The problem was resolved peacefully after several days only when the "elders" and priests intermediated. The role and scope of this event to the following revolution is unknown as the media downplayed it during the uprisings. Housing though remains a very "hot" topic for Libyan people.

Sources 

• http://www.al-bab.com/blog/2011/blog1101b.htm#trouble_in_libya
• http://www.al-bab.com/blog/2011/blog1101b.htm#trouble_in_libya
• http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/4032/World/Region/Libya-protest-over-housing-enters-its-third-day.aspx
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqXmRzcNCkY&feature=youtu.be (this became private)
• http://wieni2010.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/libya-protest-over-housing-enters-its-third-day/
• http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/20bcb18c-08b8-45ab-b23c-44fc783494a2 (Arabic)
• Libyan population over the period 1972-2005 increased from 2.15 million persons in 1972 to 5.8 million in 2005. The growth rate of the Libyan population was estimated at 4.1 per cent during the period 1975-1995. (http://thescipub.com/pdf/10.3844/ajassp.2008.1713.1719) p. 1715, Table 1.