ISLAMABAD, Feb 8 (APP):The construction of low-cost housings units has started in the federal capital with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s initiative to provide accommodation for the homeless low-earning people under the social security flagship Ehsaas programme.
Under the project, the government, is said to have managed the financing for the applicants by involving some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who would extend loans to the people, an official source told on Saturday.
The “Ehsaas” programme, with the objective to reduce inequality, invest in people and lift backward districts, hinged over creation of a ‘welfare state’ as pronounced by the prime minister.
The Ehsaas’ poverty reduction strategy were based upon four pillars and it currently embodied more than hundred policy actions including provision of low costing houses to the poor and setting up shelter houses.
With the use of data and modern technology, Ehsaas’ main objectives were to create safety nets and promoting financial inclusion of weaker segments of the society, poverty eradication, economic growth and sustainable development.
The programme was launched for the extreme poor, orphans, widows, homeless, disabled, jobless, poor farmers, labourers, sick and undernourished, students from low-income backgrounds and the elderly citizens.
According to official website, under the housing projects, Ehsaas also envisaged construction of homes for 10,000 orphans, setting up of Panah-gahs in several major cities and a housing scheme for the poor (including landless farmers) through interest free loans.
The NGOs had already started the loaning process as in the first tranche, Rs 7.35 million had been disbursed so far among 31 applicants to help them bear the cost of the unit, an official source told on Saturday.
The federal government in cooperation with the State Bank of Pakistan was also in the process of making legislation to enable the banks extend housing loans to the poor people who were so far deprived of the facility.
Currently, the house financing facility in Pakistan is just 0.2 per cent while it is 10 per cent in India, 30 per cent in Malaysia and 80 per cent in the United Kingdom and the United States.
