Three-marla houses to be built for low-income people: minister

LAHORE:Provincial Minister for Finance Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht said that the Punjab government was providing the best opportunity to low-income homeless people to get private houses on easy installments. For this purpose, in the first phase, three-marla houses will be constructed on semi-rural (pre-urban) areas on government land identified by the Board of Revenue.

The minister said this while presiding over the 54th meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Finance and Development at the Chief Minister's Secretariat here Thursday. The Punjab government will provide land and revolving funds for the construction of houses. The construction of houses will be completed in collaboration with the New Pakistan Housing Development Authority and Bank of Punjab and other banks.

Other participants in the meeting included Minister for Industries and Commerce Mian Aslam Iqbal, Advisor to Chief Minister for Economic Affairs Dr Salman Shah, Chief Secretary M Jawad Rafique, Chairman P&D Board Abdullah Sumbal, Secretary Finance Iftikhar Ali Sahoo and Secretaries of departments concern. Industries Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal directed the Department of Housing and Urban Development to verify the non-agricultural nature of the land in pre-urban areas before the commencement of the scheme so that after the commencement of the scheme it would be declared as green land.

The chief secretary directed the departments to activate the Punjab Land Development Company to expand the scope of the scheme in future. The meeting approved the purchase of equipment for heart surgery at Children’s Hospital Multan, allocation of additional funds of Rs 8.913 million for payments due to the agriculture department for the financial year 2017-18, and a supplementary grant to the Population Welfare Department for the Punjab Population Innovation Fund.

The meeting also approved the funds of the scheme for payment of pensions and Phase-I of preparation of starting business in Punjab Small Industries. The meeting approved the funds for providing shade at bus stops in Lahore while instructed the transport department to brief the Committee in detail about the current status of the Lahore Transport Company.