Govt to provide another Rs 5b to Akhuwat for low-income housing loan

Govt to provide another Rs 5b to Akhuwat for low-income housing loan
ISLAMABAD: February 25 - Prime Minister Imran Khan chairs meeting of National Coordination Committee on Housing, Construction & Development. APP

ISLAMABAD, Feb 25 (APP):Following the success of an initial experiment, the government would provide another Rs 5 billion to a civil society organization Akhuwat for disbursement of interest-free loans to the low-income class for building their houses.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, who chaired the weekly meeting of National Coordination Committee on Housing, Construction and Development, was told that the government had provided Rs 5 billion to Akhuwat which had successfully accomplished the project.

The representative of Akhuwat told the meeting that they would require Rs 2 billion for the current year which the government would provide.

It was told that around 16,000 housing units would be built under Akhuwat project by end of this year.

The Sindh chief secretary told the prime minister that around 258 construction projects of Association of Builders and Developers were awaiting approval in Sindh which also sought the federal government’s support in this regard.

The prime minister directed the chief secretary to accelerate the approval process of the projects. He viewed that the construction activity would not only accelerate the economic activity but also create jobs for the people of respective provinces.

Different development authorities apprised the prime minister of the progress on the online display of all approved societies.

The prime minister emphasized to ensure online availability of the details of all approved societies, and projects on the websites to protect the people particularly the overseas Pakistanis from any fraudulent activity.

Briefing the meeting on one window operation and automation of digitization of land record, the Capital Development Authority chairman said a case tracking and management system had been developed. Besides the process of properties’ transfer and verification had also been automated.

The CDA chief said an online payment mechanism had been introduced by the Authority for the purchase of the properties. It was told that starting from January this year, the CDA had approved 403 construction projects which would bring in Rs 735.5 million for the civic body. Moreover, an economic activity would also be generated with the launch of the approved projects.

The prime minister directed all the chief secretaries to keep a vigil on the approval process of development projects to avoid any delay. He also called for devising a future strategy for unapproved or illegal housing societies.

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