January 16, 2006	Monday	Zilhaj 15, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 15: President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday performed the computer alloting of Taiser Town (Scheme-45) at the Governor’s House. The Sindh Governor, Dr Ishratul Ibad, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal, Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil, members of the Sindh cabinet, diplomats and high government officials were present on the occasion.

The President congratulated the governor, chief minister and the city nazim and said examples of such housing schemes for the low and middle classes should also be emulated by other provinces.

“Unfortunately, the people who deserve the most were neglected in the past. They are also human beings and need shelter and other facilities,” he said.

He said Taiser Town would provide shelter to the people of the low and middle income groups, adding that parks, education, health and other facilities would also be available there.

President Musharraf said a number of problems were confronted in putting this scheme on ground, the biggest challenge being the removal of encroachments as there was a strong land mafia active there.

He appreciated the holding of balloting in a transparent manner by Nadra and said through the scheme, the housing requirements of the most deserving people of society would be fulfilled.

He termed the Taiser Town an important project, which had now been completed.

The President said Rs40,000 for an 80-sq-yard plot was affordable, and added that a procedure would also be devised for provision of loans on easy instalments from the House Building Finance Corporation and other financial institutions to make it convenient for the allottees to easily build their houses.

Referring to the nation’s economy, he said he was happy that the country was marching towards progress.

He said the present era was of skilled people and even people like barbers, plumbers, carpenters and electricians were earning a lot and faced no financial problems, pointing out that unhappy was the one who had done BA and was running from pillar to post to get a white-collar job.

He said the capacity of people to spend money had enhanced, as a result of which skilled were doing small business and were happy.

He suggested those passing matriculation levels to opt for the technical side.

He said realising the importance of skill development, technical education and skill development education had been separated from the Ministry of Education and was given to another authority supervised by Salim Altaf, who he said was a capable and dedicated person and could ably undertake the job. He said there were plans to have technical schools at the tehsil level to promote skill education.

He also referred to the establishment of five universities with the assistance of Austria, Sweden, Germany, France and South Korea, adding that Pakistanis with PhDs were coming back to run these universities.

He called for organising donkey-cart and cycling events in Karachi and suggested presenting prizes to participants in order to encourage them.

President Musharraf also suggested setting up a food street in Karachi and proper utilization of the sea, which was the beauty of Karachi. He highly appreciated the participation of the corporate sector in the Karachi package and said the water jet project was an excellent example of their participation.

He said construction of flyovers, roads and other developments taking place in the city was a joint effort of private and public sectors organisations.

The President especially praised the efforts of Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad for developing a beautiful park at Clifton beach, and also referred to the renovation of the Jehangir Kothari Parade, adding that these were beautiful additions to the recreation facilities in Karachi.

Earlier, Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad said the Sindh Government was proud of giving practical shape to President Pervez Musharraf’s vision of low-cost housing for people especially of the low-income group.

He said people had been waiting for the (Taiser Town) scheme, which had remained dormant for many years, adding that credit went to the present government, which had revived it in the shortest possible time.

The governor said that the task could not have been achieved without the support of President Musharraf, particularly referring to the President’s efforts in removal of various hurdles including encroachments for retrieval of land for Taiser Town.

He said the cost of the plot at the scheme was so low that one could pay Rs22 per day for the next five years.

He also said that some investors had offered to construct houses at low cost, adding that the offer included the provision that if an owner couldn’t pay for a year, he could start payment of instalments of the loan from the second year.

He said the New Malir Housing Scheme had also been revived to meet the housing needs of the people of Karachi. Some 32,000 people had applied for plots but were unable to get possession.

“We got the land vacated from encroachers within six months and handed over the plots for which every applicant had paid Rs58,000. Each plot there now costs between Rs500,000 to Rs600,000,” Ibad said.

Other schemes revived by the government included the Surjani Town Housing Scheme and Gulzar-i-Hijri, popularly known as Scheme-33.

He specially referred to Scheme-33 and said there were 124 housing societies, which had got land there but could not get possession of land till date. He said these housing societies would get possessions within the next six months.

The governor said lots of projects concerned with the welfare of the general public had been taken up by the government, which would change the city’s look in the next two years.

The Sindh Chief Minister, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, speaking on the occasion said holding of balloting through the computer was meant to ensure transparency in allotment of plots to the poor and low-income groups. He said planning was under way to invite investors to build houses for the low-income groups.

Arbab said check and balance would be maintained so that only genuine and deserving people benefited from the scheme.

He said the scheme would encourage investors to come forward, thereby, creating job opportunities, as the government alone could not provide employment to everyone.

He also called for establishment of mini cities outside Karachi with all kinds of amenities for residents.

Earlier, in his welcome address, the City Nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal, said the scheme would provide housing facilities to 24,000 families, adding that implementation on the project would start from the next day.

He thanked President Musharraf, Governor Ibad, and Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim for their help in giving practical shape to the housing scheme.—APP