Registration must for all businesses

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday that registration would be mandatory for each and every business and the people’s hardships would be taken into account while specifying tax ratio.

He said that easy loans would be provided for building houses and an ordinance to this effect would be approved on Tuesday (today). Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the second phase of registration for the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme to provide affordable housing facility to the low-income segments of the country.

The objective of countrywide registration process by the Pakistan Housing and Development Authority is to collect data of public demand for the housing across the country and launch projects in accordance with the needs.

The ceremony was attended by Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, special assistants Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Naeemul Haq, Naya Pakistan Housing Authority Chairman General (retd) Anwar Ali Hyder, Secretary Housing Dr Imran and senior government officials.

The prime minister also launched a web portal (www.nphp.nadra.gov.pk) by pushing the button from where the applicants would be able to register themselves while being at home without having to visit any office.

Addressing the launching ceremony, the prime ministersaid the federal cabinet would approve necessary legislation on Tuesday to enable the commercial banks extend loan facility to the poor people, who could not afford to buy a house. He said the registration process would enable the relevant authorities to ascertain about the public demand and launch housing projects in the areas where those were required.

The prime minister asked the people to register themselves in the process so that the government could know the housing demand and how much an applicant could pay to ascertain the volume of the funding. He also expressed the confidence that such incentives-laden schemes would be launched across the country, including Quetta, Gwadar, Lahore, Islamabad etc to overcome the housing shortage being faced by the people.

The prime minister said the housing authority would introduce one window operations to facilitate the applicants. He said the housing project would help uplift 40 other allied industries, besides providing ample opportunities to those who wanted to invest in those schemes.

He said the government desired the students and young entrepreneurs to form their own firms for taking part in the housing project, which would beget jobs. He said the construction of five million houses was not an easy task but the government had taken up the challenge to overcome the deficit.

Pakistan, he said, had been lagging behind in the housing sector owing to the absence of mortgage facility for the low-income class. The prime minister said currently, the persons having enough cash, could buy a house and they were in very small percentage. He said the housing shortage had swelled to 10 million in the country and for low-earners and salaried persons it was very difficult to buy a house on cash. He said it was pleasing that the people were taking huge interest in the housing project.

Imran Khan said the government had also collected data on its land bank that would be offered to the investors for construction of the housing units. The prime minister said the housing project launched on Angoori Road in Islamabad will be completed in one and a half years' time while work on the housing programme in other cities will start soon.

Acting Chairman of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) Zulfiqar Ali said under the first phase of registration, which was started in October 2018, around 500000 people had been registered. He said keeping in view the increasing interest of the people Nadra had designed a web portal to ease the registration process that would mainly facilitate the overseas Pakistanis.

He said besides the portal, the registration facility would also be available at 7,500 Nadra E-Sahulat facilities across the country to help those who would be unable to use the portal. He said the web portal would help collect the data on demand of the housing according to their locations and the applicants would also be selected through the very database.

Meanwhile the Prime Minister while addressing the launch of National Poverty Graduation Initiative here said the amendments would be made to the existing rules to increase incentives for the whistle-blowers. He announced that the money recovered from the sale of Benami properties would be diverted to the Ehsaas Programme – the initiative of the government aimed at the welfare of the poor segments of society. He expressed confidence that the money generated after selling Benami properties would exceed the national budget.

Meanwhile a high-level meeting of Aviation Division was held at the PMO where matters related to aviation were discussed especially ensuring better arrangements at airports was top on the agenda.

The Prime Minister chaired the meeting and it was also attended by Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Secretary Aviation Shahrukh Nusrat and other officials.