Under the directives of President Sheikh Khalifa, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, has ordered the first instalment of housing loans, government houses and residential plots for this year to be distributed.
This included 2,000 loans with a total value of Dh3.4 billion.
"This distribution is in line with the Abu Dhabi Government Accelerators Programme 'Ghadan 21', which doubled the number of loans granted annually", the Abu Dhabi Government Media Office tweeted.
In December, Sheikh Mohamed, also Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, said that Dh18.4bn worth of loans, homes and land in the emirate would be granted to 12,100 citizens.
A total of 8,662 housing loans valued at Dh16.2bn, 953 government houses valued at Dh79 million, and the provision of 2,213 residential plots valued at Dh1.41bn were approved last year.
In June last year, Abu Dhabi announced a Dh50bn stimulus package aimed at boosting economic growth, creating jobs and attracting investments over the next three years.
The drive to accelerate growth, called Ghadan 21, or Tomorrow 2021, includes new housing projects for Emiratis.
Sri Lanka World Cup squad
Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
