April 23, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1427

Sindh and its nerve centre, Karachi, hold a lot of interest among investors in construction activities and buying of property despite the fact that Punjab has a much larger population and offers more friendly policies to builders.

Being a port city, Karachi has higher property rates than Lahore and Islamabad/Rawalpindi owing to investors’ choice for the destination.

However, it has been noticed that some investors have bought huge land along the Super Highway leading to Hyderabad for initiating mega housing projects in the private sector.

According to the Chairman of the Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD), Hafiz ur Rahman Butt, Pakistan needs to build 7.5 million houses a year in order to meet the burgeoning demand.

Of this number, 40 per cent is for Karachi alone because of its importance as the port city and a large number of migrations take place every year from various parts of the country to the metropolis, he said.

Lahore’s population is estimated at 10 million but it cannot compete with Karachi in any respect, he added. There have not been many projects announced by the builders in Lahore as compared to Karachi and other parts of Sindh like Hyderabad.

Construction activities depend mostly on the population of any city. There are more construction activities in Karachi and Hyderabad than Lahore and Islamabad/Rawalpindi.

Mr Butt said that the building rules in Punjab were friendly and much more relaxed than in Sindh. There have been some problems as the provincial government takes too much time in clearing frozen lands.

He said in Punjab, the private sector had been encouraged to boost housing sector but in Sindh the Board of Revenue looks after property issues. The Sindh government holds the auction of property and sometimes it does not release the plots and property which they allot to the parties. — ASK