ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday opened the second phase of registration for the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme, which would provide affordable housing units to low-income families.

The objective of the countrywide registration process by the Pakistan Housing and Development Authority through this scheme is to collect data regarding the demand for housing units across the country and launch projects accordingly.

Besides the premier, the ceremony was attended by Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, special assistants to the prime minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Naeemul Haq, Naya Pakistan Housing Authority chairman retired Gen Anwar Ali Hyder and Housing Secretary Dr Imran.

The prime minister also launched a web portal (www.nphp.nadra.gov.pk) where the applicants could register themselves, without needing to visit any office.

Addressing the ceremony, Mr Khan said the federal cabinet would approve necessary legislation on Tuesday (today) to enable commercial banks to extend loan facility to those who could not afford buying a house.

He said the registration process would enable the relevant authorities to ascertain public demand and launch housing projects in areas where required.

The prime minister asked the people to register themselves in the scheme so that the government is aware of housing demands and comes to know how much an applicant could pay to ascertain the volume of the funding.

He said the housing authority would introduce one-window operations to facilitate applicants.

Pakistan, he also said, had been lagging behind in the housing sector owing to the absence of mortgage facility for the low-income class.

The house mortgage ratio in India stood at 10 per cent and in the Western world 80 to 90 per cent, but in Pakistan it was far below at just 0.2 per cent.

Acting Chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) Zulfiqar Ali said that under the first phase of registration, which started in October 2018, around 500,000 people had been registered.

He said keeping in view of increasing public interest, Nadra had designed a web portal to ease the registration process and would facilitate overseas Pakistanis.

He said besides the portal, the registration facility would also be available at 7,500 Nadra e-Sahulat facilities across the country to help those who are unable to use the portal.

He said the web portal would help collect the data on housing demand according to their locations and applicants would be selected through the database.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2019