By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD, Jul 16 (APP): Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said on Thursday that Rs 400 billion construction projects would be initiated by the end of December this year. Addressing a news conference along with Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Dr Sania Nishtar, he said a mega project for the construction of houses and apartments worth Rs145 billion would be started by October while many more would follow the suit. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan was giving special attention to the uplift of the construction sector as this had the potential to revive the national economy as well as realize the dream of disadvantaged segments of the society to own their houses.
Shibli Faraz said the people building five Marla houses would be given loans on 5 percent markup whereas for the ten Marla houses, the mark up rate will be 7 percent. He said that the schedule for payment of installments would be within the reach of the low income groups. Shibli Faraz said the Prime Minister today chaired a meeting of the National Coordination Committee on Housing, Construction and Development to personally monitor the situation and ensure steps to remove impediments in launching housing projects.
He said that the meeting was attended by the country’s prominent builders and developers. The meeting discussed several proposals to uplift the sector including holding international road shows for construction related projects to attract investment from expatriates. The meeting discussed in details all issues ranging from taxes and maps and utilities. Mechanism for lending to the construction sector was also discussed, he informed. The objective of the meetings of the National Coordinating Committee was to maintain liaison with all stakeholders, he added.
He said the Prime Minister has decided to hold the meeting of the committee every two or three days keeping in view the importance of
the sector. The minister said the focus of the Prime Minister’s policies were the middle class and poor segments of the society. Shibli said that recent auctions of Capital Development Authority fetched more than expected returns which were the manifestation that
the environment for the construction sector in the country was conducive.
He said the builders and developers and general public should take advantage of the government’s construction policy by December.
A one-window operation system, he said was devised to reduce the time required for clearance of the documents. Shibli Faraz said the government has asked the banks to dedicate about Rs 330 billion of their lending portfolio for the construction industry. So far the banks’ lending for the housing sector was less than one percent whereas in neighbouring India, this ratio was over 27 per cent. An increase in banks lending would revolutionize the housing industry as so far there was no concept of a mortgage in Pakistan, he remarked.
Shibli Faraz said that the people of Pakistan did not suffer much as compared to many other countries. The outbreak of coronavirus has made the government more determined to save the people from problems, he concluded.
