ISLAMABAD: The government was hel­ping the underprivileged segments of society realise the dream of buying their own homes, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday as he performed the balloting of low-cost apartments being built on the city’s outskirts.

Mr Khan directed the officials concerned to ensure transparency in allotting the houses under construction in Farash Town of Islamabad. He said the model of high-rise buildings should be adopted in view of the country’s growing population and haphazard expansion of cities.

Prime Minister Khan performed the groundbreaking of the project in April last year. As many as 4,400 apartments are being built under the housing project, which is being executed by the Naya Pakistan Hou­sing and Development Authority (NAPHDA) and the Capital Development Authority.

Separately, presiding over a meeting to review progress on Ravi Urban Development Authority (Ruda) and Central Business District (CBD) projects undergoing in Lahore, the prime minister said the completion of these projects would help save the city’s environment and ecology.

He said that for the first time in the country’s history, dead capital was being regenerated into valuable assets through these projects. The projects include the development of the Chahar Bagh residential project, Sapphire Bay, an industrial estate, a waste-to-energy plant, a waste treatment plant, etc. All administrative and environmental issues had been resolved and the projects were moving ahead.

PM Khan said the success of these projects would serve as a model for other cash-strapped departments to replicate it and generate income.

Ruda CEO Imran Amin briefed the prime minister about the development work on the projects.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2022