Wealth sink

Over the last decade, there has been a mushroom growth of private housing schemes across the country. No doubt, the government alone could not have provided housing to such a heavily populated nation as Pakistan. Having said that, there is a darker side to this trend as well. Many illegal housing schemes have fleeced the public of their hard-earned life savings. The culprits are often vagabonds who successfully flee the country once the scam is up, leaving their victims in the lurch. I do not know how much money is sitting on land in Pakistan, but the amount is undoubtedly massive. Imagine if this money had been invested in manufacturing and factories.

Immense job-creation would have taken place. Why are we pouring money into real estate only? In the long term, real estate investments remain dormant and are not circulated throughout the economy. I would request the prime minister to instruct city development authorities to be careful prior to issuing a clearance to any housing society to begin development work and attract the public to invest. It would also be advisable to ask our entrepreneurs to set up factories and manufacturing units instead.

Shahzad Lodhi

Rawalpindi