ISLAMABAD, Mar 18 : For the first time in the country’s history, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday allotted 1,008 flats and 500 houses for poor workers and widows on low-cost mortgage in a bid to uplift the weaker segments of the society.
The Prime Minister performed balloting at the site of affordable residences constructed in the suburbs of Islamabad, under the Naya Pakistan Housing Project carried out by Workers Welfare Fund and Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said the project was in line with the vision of facilitating the lower class which faced hardship in owning a house particularly in the urban areas.
“Naya Pakistan is in fact a vision of empowering weaker segments of the society through economic emancipation and provision of basic necessities of life,” he said.
The Prime Minister said under mortgage system, the rent paid would be converted into the installments of the total cost of the house or flat.
He said the government would give Rs 0.3 million subsidy on each house and would also ensure that the markup rate did not exceed by five percent.
He lauded the efforts of team of Workers Welfare Fund for reviving the project that lingered on for last 25 years and regretted that previous governments never gave priority to working class.
Imran Khan acknowledged that without the support of banks, the project could not be accomplished.
The passage of new foreclosure law for banks took two years to get approval by the courts, he added.
He said in first phase, over 1,500 flats and houses would be distributed and the same number would be replicated in second phase as well. The project will be expanded to other parts of the country as well, he added.
Imran Khan said owning a house was a big dream in one’s life, adding that even rich countries could not give away houses free of cost but on mortgage.
He said the government gave concessions to the construction industry during pandemic that resulted in a boom, including increase in demand of cement.
He said the construction industry would generate massive employment opportunities, expressing hope that the step would lead to wealth creation and strengthening of economy.
The Prime Minister inspected the constructed houses and flats and also planted a sapling in the premises.
PM’s Special Assistant for Overseas Pakistanis Zulfikar Bukhari said the keys of houses and flats would be handed over at payment of 10 percent of the total cost, while 90 percent of the rest of installments could be paid in a period of 20 years.
He said the concept to uplift poor was in line with the ideals of Islam’s first socio-welfare State of Madinah.
Senator Faisal Javed said the project was reflective of the fact that for Prime Minister Imran Khan, the emancipation of lower class was a priority.
