Develop the desert land to solve housing crisis Saturday, 01 May 2010 12:07

Qatar is experiencing a housing crisis. In the past, realtors’ offices would hunt down customers, calling to the point of harassment, offering several housing options to be choose from. Now, the tables have turned and customers can hardly find realtors to return their calls! Over the past five years, prices have more than doubled, and millions of Qatari riyals seem to have lost their value in acquiring suitable family accommodation. Suddenly, prices have skyrocketed as supply has plummeted.

Although the financial crisis has taken the world by storm, fortunately, its effects were minimal in Qatar. The real estate market remains vital to the extent that demand exceeds supply. Or perhaps it only seems that way because a villa may be found, however, while it is priced at over QR 2.5 million, its square footage is below 450, and suffers from poor finishing!

One of the possibilities for the low supply of property under the price of QR2m is due to demand from consumers taking loans from banks for financing their homes. Another possibility is the unprecedented rate at which the population is booming. While beneficial to the nation’s development, it is a problematic contributor to the housing crisis.

The rapid boom in the population indicates Qatar’s economic ability to absorb a growing number of people through job creation and worthwhile benefits. Newcomers would not be encouraged to leave their homes and relocate to Qatar if not for the robust economy and its rewarding opportunities.

Some Qataris facing difficulty in obtaining jobs, suffering under high debts, or whose entrepreneurial endeavours were unsuccessful, may be resentful of the control of expatriates over the economy. However, this does not prohibit Qataris from innovating or establishing successful private projects. Perhaps citizens who failed in their endeavours were impatient, or discontent with small successes, overcome with expectations of surreal profits and instantaneous success. Maybe their desires and dreams truly lie in entrepreneurship, yet at the same time they don’t want to work in the business themselves, using their hands and minds to mould it, or invest time to personally oversee its operations. Instead, they wait for an expatriate to come and manage the business on their behalf. This does not yield success – Qataris must take a hands-on approach to realise their entrepreneurial dreams.

This is an important prelude for what is next because impatience and desires for instantaneous success without preparation is also one of the primary reasons behind the failures of several national projects that were supposed to shape the country. By taking this into consideration, the current housing crisis may be resolved.

Take the vast areas of land dispersed across Qatar. For instance, the land between Mesaieed, Wakrah, Doha, and the other cities. Even within the capital itself there are vast areas of unoccupied land. By constructing in those areas, the severity of desertification may be reduced. Construction can tame the wild sands that storm the country with every wind, carrying with them impurities and chemicals harmful to people, animals, crops, and buildings. But as usual, the hurdle of establishing these projects is the traditional tendency of competition and duplication. It is the eternal problem of demanding land, even without intending or needing to build on it, just to use as a speculation tool.

Even the proposal for the government sponsoring national companies to take on construction projects to build contemporary, well-planned cities with sound infrastructure (including sections dedicated for clinics and supermarkets) and selling them at cost to citizens would be manipulated. As typical, undeserving individuals would compete to take on the project, and several companies would demand equal treatment on tenders even if they are lacking proper resources or integrity.

The project would start with noble goals and serious attempts only to end in abject failure due to unqualified parties and the intervention of parasitic companies that delay and hurdle others.

There is widespread, empty land scattered all over, and the capital can no longer absorb more people, cars, or parking spaces. At the same time the capital is jam-packed, its streets can hardly bear the burden of the weight they carry, with potholes bursting from heaviness of trucks due to overloading and misuse. As the expatriate population grows, so does the traditional Qatari family, who values having a large number of children. Inevitably, those children have children themselves and branch out to new homes and new communities.

The mix of self-interest with economic projects is at the root of their failure. Personal gain is disguised as “nationalisation”, with the premise that every citizen is entitled to proceeds of the country’s wealth. This notion must be transformed. Nationalisation means respecting others’ rights, supporting and nurturing successful projects regardless of whether they fulfil self-interests, or if they are conducted by other companies with more resources or competencies, as long as they share the mission of developing the nation.

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