ISLAMABAD, June 21: Delay in the construction of 1,472 housing units is exacerbating the residential problems of government servants in Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi, the National Assembly was informed on Monday.
Minister for Housing and Works Syed Safwanullah told the House in a statement that out of 5,277 planned houses/flats for government servants, only 3,171 units could be built while 634 units were still under construction; 1,472 needed to be built on an urgent basis.
During the last one-and-a-half years, Islamabad and Lahore were the only two cities where houses and flats were built for employees, while none was constructed in Peshawar and Karachi.
According to the Economic Survey 2004-05, the country is facing an overall shortfall of 5.5 million housing units when there were 19.3 million units, and about 24.8 million more were required for a population of 148.7 million.
In Islamabad, the government had proposed in 1985-86 to build 5,160 houses for the federal government employees, of which 1,170 were to be built in phase-I. Of these, 1,042 houses, from category I to V, have been completed while the remaining were being constructed.
In the second phase, which commenced from 1992-93, as many as 992 flats were to be constructed, of which 192 could be built, 176 still being constructed while 624 awaited construction.
Similarly, the government in 1986-87 came out with a scheme to construct 900 houses for the federal government employees of Grade 1 to 21 under the prime minister's programme. Out of these, 108 have been completed, 120 were under way, whereas 672 houses were yet to be built.
Likewise in 1992-93, a plan was envisaged to construct 563 residential accommodation for the federal government employees (PM Staff Colony) in Islamabad. Of this, 449 units have been completed, 108 were under construction while six were yet to be built.
In Lahore, 1,290 residential accommodations were to be designed for central government employees at Dhana, Singwala Lahore phase-1 during 1977-78. All the houses according to the plan were completed. Similarly, construction of 258 houses at Dhana, Singwala Lahore phase-II were envisaged during 1994-95, of which only 90 were completed, 78 were still under construction and 90 were to be built.
In Karachi, the construction of 24 flats at the Garden Officers Colony under federal government housing scheme on ownership basis were planned in 2003-04, which are still under construction. Likewise, construction of 32 flats at F.C. Area under the federal government housing project on ownership basis was planned in the same year. But none has been built so far.
