ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday inaugurated a housing scheme for government employees under which as many as 28,000 residential units will be constructed.
“The government is facilitating construction of affordable housing units for the salaried and low-income groups through provision of subsidies and waver of interest rates on the house financing,” the premier while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA) Officers Residencia in Islamabad.
According to state-run news agency APP, the project was conceived in 2008 on 90 acres of land provided by the Capital Development Authority (CDA). The total cost of the project was Rs6.5 billion, consisting of 588 grey structure housing units in the three categories.
A full-scale physical work initiated on the stalled project in 2018 in the light of prime minister’s vision of providing shelters to the citizens of Pakistan. The project also includes 88 commercial shops, 66 apartments, community center etc, having all the basic amenities.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, the prime minister said that the construction sector has the potential to boost the country’s economy and it stimulated the growth in at least 30 industries allied with this sector.
He said during the last two years the construction sector had witnessed a boom due to his government’s policies. However, he admitted that lately the sales of steel and cement had declined due to the “super commodity cycle” caused by a disruption in the supply chain.
In spite of the Covid-19 pandemic, the premier said, the wealth creation in Pakistan has witnessed rapid growth and the country gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 5.37 per cent during the last fiscal year.
While acknowledging that the salaried class has suffered the most due to hyperinflation in the country, he said disposable income of other sectors including corporate and agriculture have increased.
“The World Bank report has confirmed that poverty has reduced in the country because we did not shut construction industry during Covid lockdown and helped the country’s farmers,” he added.
Quoting Bloomberg report, the premier said the country’s economy is on an upward trajectory and the economic condition will continue to improve, “Exports, remittances and tax collection are an all-time high.”
