–PM says his govt will convert slums into high-rises
–Calls out ‘particular group’ for hindering tabdeeli
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday launched Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme to construct 141,000 houses across the country for the uplift of the poor strata of the society and to bring them into the national mainstream.
The scheme was launched at an event held in Islamabad where Housing and Works Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema, Finance Minister Asad Umar and various other government officials were also present.
Addressing the launching ceremony in Islamabad, the prime minister said at least 25,000 housing units will be constructed in the federal capital, 110,000 in Balochistan and 6,000 in Azad Jammu Kashmir in the first phase of the scheme.
Addressing the ceremony, Imran said that housing did not feature high on his priority list initially, but an incident changed his way of thinking about the industry. “My first priority was health, education and employment,” the premier said.
Sharing details of the incident that made him change his priorities, the premier said a government employee killed himself for not being able to afford his own house.
“It was then that I realised how difficult it is for the salaried class to gather funds needed for building houses,” Imran explained. “Pakistan needs 10 million homes but the salaried class does not have the money,” he regretted.
Imran said his low-budget housing scheme will also attract investors in the construction sector that caters to 210m Pakistanis.
“Investors are lined up to come in, while we’re also trying to bring in the private sector and help young entrepreneurs and youth enter the housing industry,” he said.
The prime minister said there are about 40 slums areas in Karachi only and no one has ever paid any attention to uplift poor people living there.
He underscored the need for vertical-housing in the country, adding the government would turn the slums into towering high-rises via a revolutionary new construction mechanism invented by the Chinese.
A Chinese company has told me they can make prefabricated homes and build one floor in just one week, so just imagine what they can do for us, the prime minister said, adding, “We will give them land, they will swiftly construct flats, and all slums will get converted.”
The PM said a revolving fund of five billion rupees has been established to grant microcredit loans to poor people, enabling them to have their own house. Along with high rise residential buildings, commercial buildings will also be constructed so that economic activity could be generated.
Furthermore, the premier criticised “a particular group with vested interests” trying to obstruct tabdeeli that the government had been trying to bring.
“Those taking mileage from the previous system come up with strong resistance whenever we bring about reforms,” said the prime minister, adding few of them even belonged to the Federal Board of Revenue.
He said those who were raising hue and cry were the ones who became billionaires using the “existing system”, adding the country’s debt rose to $30 billion from $6 billion in the last ten years.
Earlier, Finance Minister Umar paid tribute to Housing Minister Cheema for his efforts regarding the project. “In my first five years in the National Assembly, we talked a lot and urged the housing minister but nothing was done,” he recalled.
The finance minister stressed the importance of the housing scheme, saying that “if the federal government even comes close to building 5m houses, it would be the biggest economic project of Pakistan’s history”.