TEHRAN- The Chairman of the National Housing Fund stated: This year, the fund aims to complete and inaugurate 160,000 residential units.

Khosrow Mokhtari, in an exclusive interview with IRNA, regarding the prioritization of fund resource allocation, added: As one of the final links in the housing supply chain, the fund helps accelerate the completion and delivery of projects.

He said: The government's priority this year is the completion and inauguration of 160,000 residential units, and following the government, the National Housing Fund will also support the completion of these same units. Part of the facilities for these units had been paid in previous years, but since last year, the fund's approach changed, and resource allocation shifted from "project" to "project beneficiaries."

Mokhtari clarified: This accelerated progress, settled outstanding obligations, increased participation, equity, and self-supervision by the people, and created synergy among the triangle of contractor, people, and provincial offices of Roads and Urban Development.

The Chairman of the National Housing Fund noted: Under the previous approach, fund resources were disbursed, but due to the lack of a clear accountable party, 86% of resources faced default and were not recovered. In effect, beneficiaries were not informed about the facility disbursement and regarded it as government grant aid, nor did the contractor have incentive to finish the project, because project risk was transferred to the employer, and over 90% of contracts were concluded on a bill-of-quantities basis, which were subject to adjustment and price increases.

Mokhtari stated: We assess capacity every three months and allocate resources to deliverable projects. Although current resources are insufficient, we have potential receivables that, if supported and collected, could enable us to play a more effective role.

The Chairman of the National Housing Fund, regarding provincial distribution of resources, said: The National Housing Fund does not have a provincial structure or branches, and resource distribution is done based on the national ID code of eligible individuals in the "Tam" system. We do not define provincial quotas so that resources are not trapped; therefore, if a province does not apply, the quota is given to leading projects in other provinces to maintain resource effectiveness.

EF/MA