Imran Khan Inaugurates ‘Neglected’ Housing Project

Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the lucky draw of a decades-old housing project of the Workers’ Welfare Fund (WWF) for the low-income group on Thursday. The land for the project was acquired 25 years ago by WWF which was now subsumed in Khan’s brainchild Prime Minister Housing Scheme project.

Prime Minister Imran Khan was invited as the chief guest at the inauguration and balloting ceremony of Labour Complex.

The premier said it was a significant step forward towards his goal of building 5 million houses in Pakistan.

Housing backlog

According to construction experts, there is an acute shortage of more than 10 million houses in Pakistan.

Pakistan faces housing overcrowding as the ratio of dwellers is 3.5 per room which is greater than the minimum international standard of 3 persons per room.

A large number population in the country live in the slums.

It has been estimated that Pakistan needs to construct 360,000 houses every year to overcome the shortage.

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According to the 1998 Census, the number of residential units in Pakistan was only 10.93 million some 67.7%of which situated in rural areas and 32.3 were in urban part.

The gap between the availability of housing units corresponding to the growth in population is widening every year which is worsening the housing crisis in the country.

Khan’s long-held dream

The incumbent government has kicked off the project pending for the past 11 years.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the decades-old housing project of WWF was retrieved by PTI government.

The government even introduced a new policy in this regard and made it binding for private commercial banks to earmark Rs 389 billion under housing loans.

The government is also offering a subsidy of Rs 300,000 on each unit in the project while the interest rate will remain stagnant at 5 percent.

Unfurling project

The housing scheme has been established in Islamabad’s phase V on Japan Road.

According to official figures, the project is expanded on 2,560 Kanals area and it cost Rs 5.80 billion.

Sources told that the project was put on the backburner by previous governments due to disinterest and shortage of funds.

The total value of a house is Rs 2.354 million while that of an apartment is Rs 2.154 million.

The allotments of the units will be done through balloting. The winners of the lucky draw would have to pay 10 percent of the total cost while the remaining amount would be paid in installments extending 20 years.

Meanwhile, some 3,000 low-wage workers earning less than Rs 500,000 annually have registered themselves for the lucky draw.

Some 500 houses and 1,008 apartments have been built in the Labor Colony in Islamabad whereas the quota for disabled persons and widows is fixed at 2 and 3 percent respectively.

Each flat consists of two rooms, a kitchen, lounge, and a washroom.