ISLAMABAD, March 18 (APP): For the first time in the country’s history, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday allotted 1,008 flats and 500 houses for poor workers and widows on the low-cost mortgage in a bid to uplift the weaker segments of society.
The Prime Minister performed balloting at the site of affordable residences constructed in the suburbs of Islamabad, under the Naya Pakistan Housing Project carried out by Workers Welfare Fund and Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.
LIVE #APPNews : Prime Minister Imran Khan addressing at distribution ceremony of 1508 houses, flats among labourers under Workers Welfare Fund #Islamabad. #محنت_کش_کا_وزیراعظم https://t.co/spZU3ci5pL
— APP 🇵🇰 (@appcsocialmedia) March 18, 2021
Constructed in Zone V of the Federal Capital and around 15 minutes drive from the Islamabad Expressway, the multi-storey units will provide a decent living for small families with electricity, natural gas and water supply.
The housing units, each with a living room, two bedrooms a kitchen and a bath, have been constructed under the Workers Welfare Fund and the Naya Pakistan Housing has provided a subsidy of Rs 300,000 for each unit.
The Labour Complex once completed will straddle over an area of 2,560 kanals of prime land huddled between the posh Naval Anchorage and Gulberg Greens.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said the project was in line with the vision of facilitating the lower class which faced hardship in owning a house, particularly in urban areas.
“Naya Pakistan is in fact a vision of empowering weaker segments of the society through economic emancipation and provision of basic necessities of life,” he said.
The Prime Minister said under the mortgage system, the rent paid would be converted into the instalments of the total cost of the house or flat.
He said the government would give Rs 0.3 million subsidy on each house and would also ensure that the markup rate did not exceed by five per cent.
govt will give Rs 0.3 million subsidy on low mortgage houses & flats: PM
He lauded the efforts of the team of the Workers Welfare Fund for reviving the project that lingered on for the last 25 years and regretted that the previous government never gave priority to the working class.
Imran Khan acknowledged that without the support of banks, the project could not be accomplished. The passage of new foreclosure law for banks took two years to get approval by the courts, he added.
The project aims at emancipation of poor: PM
He said in the first phase, over 1,500 flats and houses would be distributed and the same number would be replicated in the second phase as well. The project will be expanded to other parts of the country, he added.
Imran Khan said owning a house was one’s big dream, adding that even rich countries could not give away houses free of cost but on the mortgage. He said the government gave concessions to the construction industry during a pandemic that resulted in a boom, including an increase in demand for cement.
He said the construction industry would generate massive employment opportunities, expressing hope that the step would lead to wealth creation and strengthening of the economy.
The Prime Minister inspected the constructed houses and flats and also planted a sapling in the premises. He also laid the foundation stone for the next phase of 1,500 more flats and houses.
PM’s Special Assistant for Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfikar Bukhari said the keys of the houses and flats would be handed over at a payment of 10 per cent of the total cost, while 90 percent of the rest of the instalments could be paid in a period of 20 years.
He said the concept to uplift the poor was in line with the ideals of Islam’s first socio-welfare State of Medina.
Senator Faisal Javed said the project was reflective of the fact that for Prime Minister Imran Khan, the emancipation of the lower class was a priority.
The project has been completed under the Workers Welfare Fund by the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis. Around 3,000 workers had got themselves registered, and 1,500 of them were lucky to get houses and flats on the basis of an open ballot, in the first phase.
This is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that labour class has been able to get a house of their own on easy mortgage scheme. Under the project, disabled persons will also be provided housing units. The project aims at providing accommodation to people with an annual income of less than Rs 500,000.
Prime Minister Imran Khan also laid the foundation stone for the next phase of 1,500 more flats and houses. With the personal interest of SAPM Syed Zulfikar Bukhari, the project was made part of the Naya Pakistan Housing and finally saw the light of the day.
-Reporting for APP Digital by Shumaila Andleeb
