ISLAMABAD: In order to provide the maximum number of government employees with houses, the ministry of housing is considering demolishing old state-owned houses and replacing them with new flats, according to the Federal Minister for Housing and Works Akram Khan Durrani.

At a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works on Monday at Parliament House, which was chaired by Senator Maulana Tanveer-ul Haq Thanvi, the housing minister said he had recently moved a summary to the Prime Minister’s Office in which he had asked for approval for the construction of flats after government houses in G-6, which were built in the 1960s, were demolished. After the summary is approved 1,200 new flats will be constructed, he said.

“We will sell 30pc of the flats and the remaining will be allotted to government employees,” he added.

Talking to Dawn after the meeting, the minister explained that in the first phase of the project, apartments will be constructed in F-6 and that the flats in G-6 will only be constructed in later stages of the project.

Housing ministry to demolish old state-owned houses, replace them with new flats

“We can accommodate a lot of peop le in apartments,” he said.

However, the minister said, the government does not allocate many funds for maintenance of government houses and that the many of the houses were in a dilapidated condition.

He added that the ministry has already requested the prime minister to raise the house-rent ceiling by 100pc for government employees so that the demand for government housing reduces.

On the other hand, some government employees that Dawn spoke to later did not seem to think the project was workable.

“The ministry should first construct flats on unoccupied land in the F and G sectors first instead of demolishing houses to build apartments because government employees will not allow the ministry to make them homeless for some time before being given apartments,” one government servant argued.

Bhara Kahu housing project

The meeting also discussed the delays in the completion of the Green Enclave in Bhara Kahu and directed the housing ministry to play its role in completing the project, which was initiated in 2009, as soon as possible.

Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation’s (FGEHF) director general (DG) Waqas Mahmood said the delay was because of the suo motu notice taken by the Supreme Court.

He explained that the court was hearing a case in this regard between 2009 and 2012 and that development work had been stopped during this period.

Talking about Green Enclave II in Phase IV of Bhara Kahu, the DG said in the plan which was originally approved by the Capital Development Authority (CDA), 700 kanals of land which made up 600 plots did not turn out to be feasible for development.

That is why FGEHF had sought an additional 700 kanals in exchange for the un-developed land from the contractor, who had initially refused.

The DG said that in order to pressurise him, the contractors’ payments had been halted which is why he had gone to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

“After hearing out both parties, NAB has become guarantor and has assured us the contractor will compensate us for the land which cannot be developed according to the original agreement and in return, FGEHF will submit the pay order so that the payment can be released,” he said.

The committee was then told that the pay order had been submitted to NAB and that FGEHF is now waiting for the CDA to approve the revised plans.

The chairman of the committee then formed a subcommittee headed by Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak and asked it to visit the site and present a report on the progress on the project and the reasons for the delays.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2016