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KARACHI, July 27: The government will announce new low-cost housing schemes in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta next month.
This was stated by Federal Minister for Ports, Shipping, Housing and Works Babar Khan Ghouri while addressing a press conference at the head office of the Public Works Department (PWD) South Zone here on Friday. PWD Director-General Ali Akbar Shaikh was also present on the occasion.
Ghouri said these plots and flats would be provided to the low-income group on a no-profit no-loss basis.
He pointed out that these schemes had been initiated on the instructions of President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, as the country was facing a shortage of 2.5 million housing units.
The minister said the prime minister would hand over the allotment letters of the low-cost flats to the people in the first week of August in Karachi and added that 37,000 flats were being constructed under this programme.
He said the prime minister would perform the ground-breaking of a new secretariat with modern facilities in Islamabad on August 3.
No more ‘barracks culture’
The minister said that old barracks and government offices would be demolished in Karachi and new high-rise buildings would be constructed to provide a new working environment to government employees.
“We want to change this barracks culture and provide a world-class working environment to government employees to improve their efficiency,” he said.
Answering a question, Mr Ghouri said the house rent of government employees was being raised to a reasonable level so that they could afford better accommodations.
He said the federal government had sought suitable land from the Sindh government at reasonable prices for providing low-cost plots to federal government employees.
He said currently 28,000 applications for housing were pending with the housing ministry.
“They will be provided land at a low cost and the House Building Finance Corporation will be asked to provide them money for the construction of houses,” he added.
Mr Ghouri said the government was also considering allotting quarters to government employees on an ownership basis at Pakistan Quarters and Martin Quarters.
Earlier, presiding over a meeting of the PWD, he asked the engineers to complete all the projects according to government standards and warned that negligent and corrupt officials will be relieved of duty.
