ISLAMABAD: PM names body to provide affordable houses to the poor

By Asim Yasin

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday constituted a committee to provide affordable housing to those belonging to middle and lower-middle class through mortgage financing or easy instalment financial plans and to provide housing to the government employees on or before retirement.

The committee has been given a time-frame of one month to come up with final recommendations.The decision was taken in a meeting of the Steering Committee on Housing Development held under the chairmanship of the prime minister here at the Prime Minister's Secretariat on Monday.

The meeting was attended by the chief ministers of Punjab, Sindh and the NWFP who were highly appreciative and expressed complete satisfaction over this housing programme.The committee comprises federal ministers for finance and housing, Planning Commission deputy chairman, special assistant to prime minister on social sector, State Bank governor, secretary housing, secretary finance, FBR chairman, chief secretaries, including that of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and one member each from the private sector.

The meeting also decided to set up provincial steering committees on the pattern of the Prime Minister's Housing Steering Committee for better coordination with the federal government.It is to be mentioned here that the steering committee was constituted by the prime minister to figure out the modalities for realising the programme of constructing one million housing units for the low-income group as announced by him on the floor of the house on March 29, 2008.

During the meeting, a decision was also made for the establishment of Land Banking for Prime Minister's Housing Programme besides computerisation of the land-registration system and reviewing zoning regulations to permit the incremental development of housing facilities for the low-income groups.

The chief ministers of Punjab, Sindh and the NWFP informed the meeting that their respective provinces would extend all-out support to the federal government in realising this programme as it targeted the poor segment of the society.

Under the directive of the prime minister, the Ministry of Housing was given a task to strategise the vision of the prime minister of providing housing to the poor and needy people of Pakistan living below the poverty line, to provide affordable housing to middle class and lower-middle class through mortgage financing or easy instalment financial plans and to provide housing to the government employees on or before retirement.

In his remarks during the meeting, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the PPP government and its allies were committed to providing shelter and other basic facilities of life to every citizen of the country, particularly the poorest of the poor.

Earlier, Minister for Housing Rehmatullah Kakar in his presentation highlighted the salient features of the housing-development programme and informed the meeting about the operational strategy which included the creation of Land Bank, establishment of a management company or a housing authority for high-rise apartments and row houses in major cities through pilot projects or joint ventures, construction of incremental housing facilities in the semi-urban and rural areas for the poorest of the poor.

He briefed the meeting that the strategy in the pipeline would also focus on row houses and open plot development in urban centres, intermediate towns and rural areas, re-development of prime urban land where public buildings were either dilapidated or slums had been created, reforming legal framework affecting foreclosure, transfer, tenancy, rent control and acquisition of immovable property, strengthening of local construction industry and attracting foreign investment.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Housing Rehamtullah Kakar, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Salman Farooqi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Sector Shahnaz Wazir Ali, State Bank Governor Dr Shamshad Akhtar, federal secretaries and other senior officials.
Source: The News, 16/9/2008