"First House" Project: suspicions of favouritism oblige government to review its copy

 The Cabinet meeting decided on Friday to issue a new government decree providing for the first house in order to allow beneficiaries of the programme to acquire housing according to their means without restricting themselves to real estate developers as stipulated in the first government decree on this subject.

This second decree comes after the pressures exerted by the deputies of the opposition in the House of the People’s Representatives (HPR) and several Tunisians through social networks, which evoked suspicions of favouritism.

After the announcement on Thursday that the Minister of Equipment, Mohamed Salah Arfaoui, had withdrawn the preliminary list of property developers involved in the First Housing project, the government re-examined the decree No. 161 for the year 2017 (dated January 31, 2017), related to this programme, which provoked a great controversy in Tunisia.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed had kicked off the "first house" project, on February 2, in Dar Dhiafa in Carthage. 15 agreements were signed by the ministers of equipment and finance, the governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) and the participating banks, on the management of the "first house" account.

The financing of this project will be in the form of credit lines granted by the banks, under the supervision of the Central Bank.

The State has mobilised a budget of 200 million dinars under the finance law 2017, "with a view to enabling a significant portion of Tunisians to acquire housing".

Fehri Chaabane, president of the federation of real estate developers, said that about 1,100 homes are currently available and between 3,800 and 4,000 more will be ready in 2018, specifying that the programme targets about 6 thousand beneficiaries of 14 governorates.

Arfaoui, who was summoned to the House of the People's Representatives (ARP) on February 16, 2017 by the Committee of Finance, Planning and Development, told TAP that "this decision will allow beneficiaries to choose, freely, the real estate developer for the acquisition of their housing ".

Not only have the opposition members accused the government of trying to make certain promoters benefit. They even announced the appeal to the Administrative Court for the cancellation of the decree, many Tunisians reacted on the social networks and questioned this project which continues to cause an outcry.

The first house project was adopted under the Finance Act 2017 (Article 61 of the Finance Act 2017). Article 61 lays down the necessary criteria for the benefit of middle-class families, whose income varies between 4.5 and 10 times the SMIG, on concessional loans (2% interest rate and repayment period). 7 years) as self-financing of the first house (20% of the value of housing).

Opposition deputies noted the speed with which the government, which often takes a long time to issue implementing decrees, has published a decree on "First House" (in one month).

MP Mongi Rahoui reported suspicions of corruption in the formalities and choices of property developers. He pointed out that the real estate sector is already plagued by corruption.

Arfaoui, for his part, reminded that the project of "First House" constitutes a bulwark for Tunisian families against the rise in prices of real estate. "A way to enable them to acquire their house more easily," he said.

The parliamentary committee on finance, chaired by Rahoui, had threatened to appeal to the courts to suspend the implementation of the decree governing the conditions of access to the first house for non-compliance with the 2017 budget law. The decree is in contradiction with article 61 of the budget law, Rahoui believes.

source: TAP