–Estimated project cost amounts to more than half of Pakistan’s GDP
LAHORE: British-Pakistani entrepreneur Aneel Musarrat has said that approximately $180 billion would be required for building five million homes which Prime Minister Imran Khan had pledged in his party’s election manifesto.
Addressing a press conference, the London-based property tycoon said that such a large-scale project would cost approximately $180 billion. Explaining the cost, he said that if the first 1.5 million homes are completed in a period of five years then their estimated cost would be $15 billion. Later, the next phase of building 1.5 million homes would cost $20 billion and after that when another one million homes are made, their estimated cost would be $50 billion and so on, leading to an end value of $180 billion, he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that the estimated project cost amounts to half of Pakistan’s GDP which, according to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) stood at $313.13 billion in June 2018.
Earlier, Mussarat told a local media outlet that he would be advising PM Khan on the project for free because he wanted to give something back to the country of his origin, adding that he would not be doing any business in Pakistan to avoid conflict of interest.
“My only objective is to alleviate poverty and help Pakistan recovered economically,” he said.
The 48-year-old started off as a property trader in the UK and steadily made his name in the United Kingdom’s property market by constructing and renting properties commercially. He is worth £300 million.
On September 10, PM Khan chaired a meeting to review the progress on the formulation of a roadmap for the project and decided that he himself would personally monitor the initiative to ensure its smooth implementation and in order to avoid any administrative obstacles.
PM Khan had said that the project is the foremost priority of his government and not only would it address the housing issues faced by people in the major cities of the country but it would also help the economy grow and create employment opportunities for the people.
