Saleh Kamel (middle), Chairman of JCCI and Abdullah Dahlan, board member, speak to journalists about JEF 2013 at the JCCI headquarters Sunday. Fatima Muhammad Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – The upcoming Jeddah Economic Forum 2013 will discuss “housing the growing population" as the housing becomes a challenging issue locally, regionally and internationally, said Saleh Kamel, Chairman of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at the chamber's headquarters Sunday. He added that they have done a study to make a separate and independent association for JEF that is expected to start operating next year and will be in charge of organizing and arranging for JEF. The event, which will start on March 16, 2013 will look for speakers from China, India and Germany as they can introduce fruitful experiences in housing, said Kamel. The forum hopes to provide solutions and suggestions for the housing issue and also will provide recommendations for government bodies to be able to solve this issue. This year, Kamel said, they will have recommendations and suggestions for solving the issue and will present them to government officials who will be attending the forum. No one has a magic stick to solve the issue, what we provide is solutions and suggestions, and the authorities are to take it address it and use it to solve the issue, he added. Abdullah Dahlan, a board member of JCCI, said 60 percent of Saudis, majority of which are youth, do not own houses. This issue, if not solved, will increase to 80 percent, he added. Dahlan said now is the best time to address the issue as the legislative decisions that address housing have been set by government bodies, including real estate mortgage system and housing insurance. These legislations will ease the housing issue. The Kingdom, he said, will need SR1.4 billion to establish 2 million housing units during the coming years. Dahlan believed that the issue can also be solved by having more cooperation and blocs between contracting companies which will result in the establishment of big contracting companies that will build more houses. Another suggestion is to establish cement and bricks factories in the country. “What we need is developing construction plans that can help build more houses at lower price and quickly," said Dahlan.
