Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid announces Dh6.3bn Dubai housing package for Emiratis

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, on Sunday announced the approval of a Dh6.3 billion ($1.7bn) investment project to provide housing and land for more than 4,600 Emiratis.

Sheikh Mohammed said a plan to construct a housing complex in Al Khawaneej, which will include 1,100 residential villas, was also approved.

The initiatives are part of a strategy to provide high living standards for citizens.

Sheikh Mohammed confirmed the projects on Twitter, accompanied by a video outlining Dubai's plans to support its citizens.

Last September, Sheikh Mohammed said Dh65bn would be allocated to a housing programme in Dubai for UAE citizens over the next two decades.

"Quality housing is a dignity and a right for all," Sheikh Mohammed said at the time.

"A decent life for the people of the country is the first priority for the government’s work."

In November, Sheikh Mohammed set out Dubai housing projects worth Dh3.8 billion under a plan to provide the best living environment for families.

The programme will include the distribution of 2,000 residential plots, 900 villas and a Dh500 million complex for small families, Sheikh Mohammed said.

In February it was revealed Dubai had started to build 803 new homes for Emiratis under a Dh1.2 billion project.

The additional housing is to serve Al Kawaneej 2 and Al Warqa districts of the emirate.

The initiative is being overseen by Mohammed bin Rashid Housing Establishment.

A Dh10 billion package encompassing housing loans, plots of land and homes for Emiratis in Abu Dhabi was also announced in November.

It also includes the exemption of 10,032 low-income retirees and families of deceased mortgagors from repayments, Abu Dhabi Media Office said.

It comes under the directives of President Sheikh Khalifa and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

The continued investment in housing infrastructure in Dubai comes as the emirate's population booms.

Numbers of those living in the emirate have passed the 3.5 million mark as a result of a post-coronavirus pandemic rise in migration.

Dubai Statistics Centre's live population counter stood at 3,500,105 on Thursday.

Between the end of 2020 and April 2022, the population rose by close to 100,000.

Population growth is a major goal for the emirate's government, with a target of 5.8 million people by 2040 and an expansion of Dubai planned.

Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history

Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)

Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.

Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)

A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.

Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)

Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.

Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)

Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.