PM visits low-cost housing project; appreciates fast pace of construction

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that it is for the first time that the people who can never afford a house can now own it.

During a visit to the site of 4,400 under-construction houses under the Naya Pakistan Housing project, at Farash Town, in the suburbs of Islamabad, the prime minister said: “No government in the past cared for the low-income segment of the society, who had no shelter.”

Around 4,400 apartments are being constructed in collaboration with the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority and FWO at a very fast pace.

The Prime Minister was briefed about the pace of the project, which is going on according to the schedule.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had performed the groundbreaking of the project in April this year.

The apartments were being constructed on 70 kanals of land and of these 2,000 houses have been reserved for the low-income groups registered under the Naya Pakistan Housing, 400 were for the slum dwellers and 2,000 for the middle-income and salaried class people. The entire project would cost Rs15.3 billion.

The prime minister regretted that the previous governments did not pay any heed to the basic needs of the people, including affordable housing.

The banks were asked to provide mortgages to the people to help them construct a house of their choice, he said, adding that currently, the mortgage facility in India is 10 per cent, 30 per cent in Malaysia, while it is around 80 per cent in the west.

However, in Pakistan, it is zero and it took two years to make foreclosure laws of banks aimed at facilitating the general public in the construction of houses.

The government, besides undertaking the construction, is also providing a subsidy of Rs300,000 for each house and providing loans at a very small markup. An amount of Rs30 billion has been allocated for this purpose, he added.

“It is our effort that the people have to pay less every month, almost equivalent to what they pay for the monthly rent,” he said.

The prime minister said the markup subsidy scheme; offered long-term housing finance of up to 20 years, on as low as 2 per cent service charges for the first five years to the low-income people.

The middle-income people can get housing finance for 5 marla houses on 5 per cent markup for the first five years and for 10 marla houses on 7 per cent markup for the first five years. A sum of Rs35 billion has been allocated for the first phase of this scheme.

The government offered 90 per cent exemption on taxes on the construction sector, he said, adding that despite the negative impact of the Covid-19 all over the world, Pakistan is one of the few countries as it kept its construction sector open and the people had an opportunity to earn their livelihood.

The banks are processing applications amounting to around Rs226 billion, while the cases for Rs90 billion have been approved, while Rs24 billion has been disbursed.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said that currently 100,000 houses are under-construction, he said, adding that it took almost two years to put in place a structure that can take up this difficult task.

However, now the Naya Pakistan Authority was fully functional to plan and execute the objective of the construction of low-cost houses.

The premier said 52,500 housing units were under construction, of which 20,000 had already been delivered through Akhuwat and Workers Welfare Fund.

He said 104 projects, comprising 307,000 housing units were under evaluation and processing, whereas work on 45,133 housing units has either started or is at the final stages of planning.

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