The federal cabinet has decided to kick start the Naya Pakistan Housing Authority project with the construction of 135,000 apartments, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Tuesday.

The information minister was addressing the media in Islamabad after a cabinet meeting. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan will launch the project on April 17 in the capital where 25,000 apartments will be built for federal government employees.

The remaining 110,000 apartments will be built in Balochistan, Chaudhry said. He added that the project includes a housing society for the fishermen in Gwadar.

"For the first time, fishermen will have a roof over their heads and they will be given modern accommodation," the information minister announced.

The prime minister had promised to build five million houses in an October 2018 launch ceremony of the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme.

Earlier, Minister for Housing and Works Tariq Bashir Cheema had told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Housing and Works that the housing project will be launched by the prime minister in Quetta after April 20.

The federal cabinet, in its meeting today, also decided to take action against people responsible for power and gas theft, Chaudhry told the media. He said that Prime Minister Khan had instructed relevant authorities to hold the "big thieves" accountable first so that "an example can be set".