Saudi Arabia’s Housing Ministry is preparing to issue a request for proposals (RfP) for advisors on a major housing scheme, sources have told MEED.

It will seek a consortium of financial and legal consultants to prepare a public private partnership (PPP) tender.

Few details have been released to interested consultants on the number of units and site, or sites, of the project.

The Housing Ministry has committed to spending SR59.2bn ($15.8bn) on building 400,000 affordable housing units by 2020. It has also stated that it is studying different types of partnerships with local developers, to build 1.5 million homes by 2024.

It is in direct negotiations with a number of developers, such as Dar al-Arkan, on potential housing projects. The government may offer additional support to encourage the construction of affordable homes.

Projects include a $20bn agreement with a consortium led by South Korean Hanwha Engineering & Construction to build 100,000 homes in Saudi Arabia over the next 10 years.

There will also be an SAR3bn programme under build–operate–transfer (BOT) and PPP systems providing housing to widows and orphans through charities and orphanages in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Development.

Saudi Arabia is facing a significant challenge to meet the housing demand. More than 65 per cent of its 30 million population under the age of 30, and 750,000 families are eligible for public housing across the kingdom’s urban areas, according to government statistics.