ISLAMABAD, June 5: The country is suffering from a shortfall of 270,000 housing units per annum and the backlog is increasing every year, the Economic Survey Report 2002-03 showed.

According to the report, the country required 570,000 housing units per year, but the actual supply did not exceed by 300,000 units.

The report gave a reference of a report of World Bank, saying the required housing units in the country would be 24.8 million by the end of June 2003.

The provision of house to every family has become a major issue as a result of rapid population growth and massive urbanization.

According to 1998 census, about 32.5 per cent of Pakistan’s population lives in the urban areas, which means that every third Pakistani is living in a city or town.

The report said the number of cities with a population of over a million people increased from three in 1981 to seven in 1998. Similarly, towns and cities with a population above 100,000 increased from 29 in 1981 to 50 in 1998.

According to 1998 population and housing census of Pakistan, there were over 19.3 million housing units in the country compared to 12.6 million enumerated in 1980 showing an increase of 53.2 per cent.

Of the total, 19.3 million housing units, 67.7 per cent were in the rural and 32.3 in the urban areas. Nearly 15.6 million or 80.8 per cent were owned, 1.7 million or nine per cent rented and two million or 10.2 per cent rent-free.

It was mentioned in the report that the percentage of owned housing units were higher in the rural areas compared to urban areas.

However, the percentage of rented houses was significantly higher at 23.2 in the urban areas compared to 2.3 per cent in the rural areas.

The government realizing the linkage of the housing sector with the construction industry and its potential to generate employment.

According to the Ministry of Housing and Works, a new housing policy-2001 has been formulated to overcome housing shortage, lack of housing finance, non-existence of necessary laws, lack of planning, outdated building and zoning regulations.

The State Bank of Pakistan has issued guidelines for banking companies to undertake assets securitization, increase the lending limit for housing loans to Rs5 million and allow banks to issue long-term debts to facilitate financing of housing loans, the report said.

It said under a plan some 4,564 housing units were being constructed in four major cities of Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar at a cost of Rs5 billion.

Similarly, the Ministry of Housing and Works has given approval to the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation to acquire three sub-sectors of G-14 for housing scheme for government employees.