ISLAMABAD: Naya Pakistan Housing Authority (NAPHDA) has started the third round of registration from 28th February, 2022 in 10 districts of the country.
Spokesman for NAPHDA Asim Shaukat Ali said while talking to WealthPK that the Authority is working tirelessly under the supervision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to achieve the dream of 5 million houses for low and middle-income groups. Every week, meetings of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) are being held which are headed by the NAPHDA chairman, while the prime minister chairs the meetings every second week. The basic objective of these meetings is to eradicate constraints in the working of the NAPHDA on day-to-day basis to work in a swift manner.
The spokesman acknowledged that the pace of the projects was slow, but still it has made unprecedented achievements. He said that because of the NAPHDA, as many as 40 industries directly or indirectly linked with the housing sector have benefited.
According to the spokesman, because of the NAPHDA working, Rs7 trillion economic activity is generated and 1.2 million jobs created. He said the NAPHDA’s focus is not only financing, but also the building of low-cost housing units. In urban areas, a low-cost house costs around Rs2.7 million, and in peri-urban areas, a house costs Rs1.8 million.
The government is also providing a subsidy of Rs0.3 million which makes these low-cost housing units. The spokesman said despite the hike in prices of all building commodities, the price of housing units has been kept under Rs3.2 million.
Until now, the NAPHDA has received nearly 2 million applications in the first two rounds of registration. Now the third round for the registration has started from 28th March for 10 districts.
Asim said financing mechanism for low- or middle-income groups through Tier-1 and Tier-2 already exists, and for the underprivileged class who don’t have formal income, Tier-0 has been introduced under which they can apply for loan on only 2% service charges without any interest with the help of microfinance institutions like Akhuwat Foundation and Kashf Foundation loan of up to Rs2 million. The government is also building around 12,000 housing units to replace slums in Islamabad and offering low-cost loans for house building under the public private partnership.
The Naya Pakistan Housing Policy is an inexplicably assertive scheme. It offers Pakistan a good opening for economic growth, and improved equivalence.
INP
