Islamabad February 11 2022: Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a meeting of NCC on Housing, Construction and Development in Islamabad.
The meeting was briefed that for the very first time in the history of Pakistan a sustainable ecosystem for Low Cost Housing has been developed and implemented which has enabled the sector to achieve exponential growth.
The Foreclosure Law has been implemented in letter and spirit and long term loans (up to 20 years) with subsidized markup (as low as only 2%) are being given. In addition to that a cost subsidy of Rs 300,000 for low income housing schemes and 90% tax waiver has resulted in encouraging the private sector, which is actively participating in the construction of housing units under the schemes.
The projects include urban, peri-urban, urban regeneration, government funded and private sector projects.
The meeting was also briefed about the transparent and automated process to receive and process the application which has resulted in targeting the needful lower and middle income class. This is being ensured by the development of one window digital portal with automated application tracking system by development authorities.
The meeting was also briefed on figures regarding the total low cost housing construction activity so far after 2018.
A total of 161,924 low cost housing units were approved, out of which 45,191 units are under construction and 20,898 units have been completed, which is significant bearing in mind that before the subsidies by the government, foreclosure law and low cost housing schemes by the PTI’s government, the sector was in shambles.
This will increase the construction related material demand such as cement and steel.
During the first seven months of current fiscal year, total cement despatches (domestic and exports) were 31.4 million tons that calculates to5.89 percent lower than 33.37 million tons despatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year. Further analysis indicate that domestic uptake of the commodity reduced by 0.69 percent to 27.465 million tons from 27.657 million tons during July-January 2021whereas exports during the same period declined by a massive 31.04 percent to 3.94 million tons from 5.71 million tons during July-Januar y2021.
A breakup of the government financed low cost housing projects was also given according to which 4000 units in Farash Town, 4000 units in LDA City, 1320 units in Jalozai, 245 units in Raiwind, 324 units in Sargodha and Chiniot and 1800 units at Angoori road are being constructed with completion deadlines before the end of 2022.
The meeting was also told that a total of 2507 projects worth Rs 627 billion have been registered on FBR Portal under Fixed Tax Regime which have an impact of Rs 3.135 trillion on the economy.
The Prime Minister directed to complete the projects in the defined timelines and emphasized to take steps to improve and ease the process for low cost housing projects.
The meeting was attended by federal ministers Shaukat Fayyaz Tarin, Fawad Chauhdary, Minister for state Farrukh Habib, SAPM Dr. Shehbaz Gill, Governor State Bank, Chairman NAPHDA, Lt. Gen Anwar Ali Haider (Retd), CEO RUDA Imran Amin, Chief Secretaries of Punjab and Balochistan and concerned senior officials.
