The President has approved the Ministry of Housing’s suggestion regarding the allocation of c6,000 residential units to a rental scheme, to cater for the housing needs of the less fortunate families. On a separate note, phases one and two of the government’s social housing programme is underway, as scheduled. c256,000 units are planned under phase 1, of which c76,000 are completed and c180,000 additional units are to be completed before end of year. For phase 2, c275,000 units are set to be completed by mid-2017, to bring the total number of units to c531,000, which the President, at his meeting with the Housing Minister, had ordered to increase to c600,000 units. (Al Mal)