Islamabad
Bringing the country’s leading builders and developers under one roof, the three-day Jang-ABAD Expo 2017 opened here on Friday highlighting the nationwide real estate investment opportunities, the issues and challenges facing stakeholders, and ways and means to effectively address them.
The participants pledged to provide the people with high-quality yet affordable housing.
The Jang Media Group organised the three-day event at the Pak-China Friendship Centre in collaboration with the Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD), which works for unifying and streamlining the private sector construction activities in the country with more than 800 construction companies as its members.
State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, who inaugurated the event, said foreign investors were keen to put money in various sectors of the country due to the increased confidence in local economy.
“It is heartening to see a large number of companies from Britain, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Turkey and other countries take part in the expo, which shows the foreigners’ keen interest to invest in the real estate sector of the country,” she said.
Marriyum Aurangzeb said Pakistan’s economy had achieved sound footings as reflected by various economic indicators.
She said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, which had been declared the game-changer for Pakistani economy by the international community, would increase the regional connectivity and promotion of trade and thus, making the role of Pakistan pivotal in South Asia.
The minister said infrastructure development was a major component of the multi-billion dollars project to change the landscape of the country.
She said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had promised in 2013 to make the country a vibrant economy by overcoming the challenges of terrorism, energy crisis and weaker financial situation and all those promises were being realised fast.
“By 2018, we will emerge as a prosperous and developed nation on the world’s map as envisioned by the country’s founding fathers,” she said.
Marriyum Aurangzeb said major financial institutions had appreciated the economic milestones achieved by the current government.
“Our (national) economic ratings have greatly improved; our foreign exchange reserves have increased substantially, and our stock market has emerged as one of the best in Asia. And all that has happened due to the best possible economic policies pursued by the government,” she said.
The minister promised an early end to the energy crisis in the country saying the government had initiated a number of projects to generate electricity both from conventional and alternative sources.
She urged the private sector to act as veritable arm of the government in infrastructure development.
Meanwhile, the builders and developers welcomed the holding of the event and said such initiatives effectively highlight their issues and challenges for corrective measures by the relevant quarters.
Speaking on the occasion, Hammad Rasul, general manager (marketing) at the Royal Residencia Private Limited, said the event helped developers to market their products and services at a large scale and clients to benefit from a wide range of choices.
“Such expos are welcome events for us, developers, because they tremendously increase our marketing reach,” he said.
He praised the ABAD for being a great help to developers struggling to sort out issues with the government agencies and said the association should continue holding such expos across the country on regular basis for the benefit of both builders and their clients.
Bilal Shakir, marketing manager at the Star Marketing Private Limited, said his organisation had put up the stall to market new projects to new clients.
He also called for the holding of such events in future, too.
The country’s major developers and builders put up stalls at the expo with their representatives informing visitors about their previous, current and future projects and offering them attractive packages to suit their needs and pockets. The people, mostly salaried ones, interested in developing own houses, showed up in large numbers. The expo will continue today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday).
