Government asked to establish bank to promote low-cost housing

Islamabad: Many dignitaries visited the first International Housing Expo-22 on its second day being organised by the Ministry of Housing & Works in collaboration with Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI).

The people visited the three-day International Housing Expo-22 in large numbers on its second day at the Convention Centre here on Friday.Mostly families, visited stalls, asked the representatives of real estate developers, housing societies, real estate consultants, and construction material-related industries about their projects, and sought guidance on real estate development and investment possibilities. Many of them benefitted from deals on offer.

During the event held by the housing and works ministry and the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with the Jang Media Group, sessions were held on ‘low-cost housing and financing frameworks’, ‘affordable housing need: realities, options, action’ and ‘urban governance, urban development and regulation of housing sector’ with panellists highlighting ground realities, issues and challenges, and future perspective.

The panellists gave useful proposals to promote low cost housing in Pakistan and said that the government should consider setting up a separate housing bank to promote low cost housing for low income segments.

Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar, PMLN leader and former MNA, Chakkrid Kraichaiwong, ambassador of Thailand, Nguyen Tien Phong, ambassador of Vietnam, Khazar Farhadov, ambassador of Azerbaijan and Dilshad Senor, ambassador of Northern Cyprus.

Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, president, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Iftikhar Ali Shallwani, secretary, Ministry of Housing & Works took the visiting dignitaries to various stalls put up for display in the Expo. The visiting guests took great interest in the products and projects displayed in the Expo and highly appreciated the Ministry of Housing & Works and ICCI for organising such a wonderful Expo.

Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari briefed Capt. (r) Muhammad Safdar about the importance of establishing a new industrial estate in the region to promote industrialisation and investment and he assured that ICCI should give him a proposal and he would try to get its approval from the Prime Minister.

Najeeb Haroon of the Pakistan Engineering Council called for the foreclosure laws to be made and enforced effectively to boost mortgage financing in the country.He regretted the announcement of ‘half-cooked’ housing projects, which, he said, never got off the ground causing lots of money to go to waste.

Mr Haroon, a former chairman of the National Assembly standing committee on housing, said the government had one responsibility and that was to put in place an effective regulatory system to ensure removal of hurdles to the development of housing sectors, but as that hadn’t taken place, slums and ‘katchi abadis’ had emerged all over the country.

Acting chairman of the Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Major General (r) Amer Aslam Khan said the authority had done a lot to provide the people with low-cost houses to people during the last three years.

He said besides addressing housing needs of low and middle income groups, the NPHDA was also striving to revive construction sector, digitalize cadastral land records, developing master plans for major cities and introduce digital projects approval regime through one-window operations.

PMLN leader and former MNA Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar Awan said unfortunately, many housing societies had taken away the hard-earned money of overseas Pakistanis and even got off scot-free.

He suggested that the State Bank of Pakistan receive money from expats, who were interested in real estate investment or development, before using that accordingly.Mr Awan also said authorities as well as housing sector should encourage people for investment through incentives.

He urged the housing ministry to ensure an early end to the law on ‘shufa’, the right of pre-emption.The stallholders appreciated the holding of the expo and said it not only helped them market their products and services but also highlighted the nationwide real estate investment opportunities, the issues and challenges, and their solutions.

They asked the government to come up with clear, friendly and flexible policies for the housing sector to ensure its development saying this will help revive the economy.The stallholders appreciated the Jang Media Group for holding the expo and said the annual event served the interests of the real estate sector and the common man. The visitors also welcomed the expo saying it has presented good solutions to the people’s housing issues.