Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has received a donation of QR4.28mn from businessman Nasser Rashid bin Sraiya al-Kaabi, in support of the ‘Honourable Life,’ a development project initiated by QRCS to provide housing for the Syrian families.
The donation will be used to establish ‘Bin Sraiya Charitable Town’, to be built in the same manner as the clay houses completed by QRCS in Afes, Idlib countryside, using clay blocks from the natural environment in Syria.
The new project involves building 200 clay houses with full infrastructure – water supply, surface water well, tank, sewerage network, power supply, roads, land levelling, and gardens. This part of the project will cost QR2.35mn.
In addition, there will be service utilities including the establishment and one-year operation of a school, bakery, health centre, workshop for widows, market, two mosques, and solid waste removal system. The cost of these works is estimated at QR1.93mn.
The project is expected to serve 200 families (1,600 people), mostly comprising widows, orphans, and people with disabilities living in makeshift camps in the district. Also, there will be thousands of indirect beneficiaries from the activation of the trade and economic activity, as well as the camp residents, who will find more access to the available health and other humanitarian services.
Lately, QRCS has handed over the first batch of clay houses for 100 families (600 people) in Afes, at a total cost of QR866,739. This phase involved building 100 clay houses with water, sewage, electricity, roads, and gardens.
Each 36sqm house will consist of two rooms, a reception, one kitchen, and one bathroom, at a cost of QR6,100, apart from the cost of landpreparation, infrastructure, and utilities.
The project has a positive impact on the local economy by creating job opportunities for construction and transportation workers, as well as procuring the building supplies from the local market.
Socially, the project will improve the lives of the beneficiaries by ensuring that every family will have a separate house with all facilities. Unlike emergency shelter tents, these houses are fit to protect the families against heat in the summer and cold weather in the winter.
Currently, QRCS is preparing for the second phase, which involves constructing 2,000 clay houses over 2016 in several towns of Aleppo and Idlib countryside, building upon the lessons learnt from the current project, with new design and execution techniques to make use of the site-specific advantages, as well as better equipment.