Pakistan sits on large amounts of ‘dead capital’, says PM Imran

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PakistanToday
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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday that Pakistan pays billions in interest on its loans while the country is sitting on huge amounts of dead capital.

He made the revelation on his Twitter account while discussing “startling” statistics pertaining to state-owned land in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab, other government-owned and federal areas.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote: “So, a country that has to borrow money to pay interest on its loans (burdening our future generations) – & daily interest payment is Rs 5 billion – is sitting on huge amounts of dead capital (just 90% of urban holdings is worth Rs 300b) in the form of this govt-owned land with buildings.”

The PM revealed that of 90 per cent of the government-owned land, 34,459 kanals is rural while 17,035 kanals is urban and only the urban land with buildings is worth over Rs300 billion.

“I have just got figures of 90% of state-owned land in KP, Punjab & federal areas & rest houses/official residences built on this land. The figures are startling: 34,459 kanals are rural & 17,035 kanals are urban. Just the urban land with buildings is worth over Rs.300 billion!,” PM Imran said.

As part of an initiative to re-purpose state-owned residences, the Sindh governor house in Karachi was opened up to the public on September 7.

Visitors will be allowed to see Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s office inside the premises, which also houses some of his belongings. They will also be able to walk in the Governor House’s lawn.

Governor Imran Ismail explained that the federal government had formed a committee to submit recommendations for the use of all four governors’ houses in the country. He claimed that the committee had started its work and the future of Governor’s House would be decided in light of the committee’s recommendations.

On the orders of the Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, the Murree Government House opened for public on September 9. This was the second official residence to be made public by the government on Imran Khan’s directives.

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