The Fonds du Logement--a housing developer that builds and manages affordable properties--oversees 1,682 plots of land in 69 communes, housing minister Henri Kox said in answer to a parliamentary question published on Friday.

A total of 37 hectares are already developed, he said. A hectare is equivalent to 10,000 square metres, just under the size of two football pitches. The same amount of land is not yet cleared for construction.

But 142.3 hectares--more than half the land owned by the fund--are buildable land. Only 11.8% will see construction in the next five years though, Kox said. The majority (81.3%) will be developed in the coming five to 15 years. The rest is slated for construction in the long term.

The housing minister cited various reasons for the long delays, including complicated and lengthy public tender procedures, administrative steps to get planning permission at commune level but also depollution of land and environmental challenges.

Some of the projects involve large-scale urban developments, which are also more complex than building individual housing units, Kox said. Among its bigger projects, the housing fund is building around 1,000 homes on a former industrial site in Wiltz. A project similar in size is planned at a former steel site in Dudelange.

Buyers of Fonds du Logement properties receive a 99-year leasehold on the land. The properties can be bought only for personal use and must be sold back to the fund.