KARACHI, Aug 28: Federal Minster for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri said on Tuesday that the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) was ready to give land authority to the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) in order to develop a single authority in the metropolis.

At a ceremony to distribute the allocation orders of Housing Scheme Phase II among federal government employees, Mr Ghauri said that land orders of some federal authorities such as PECHS and Pak Colony would soon be given to the CDGK. He added that the KPT was ready to give land to the Karachi Mass Transit Programme but the developer wanted to use the required 27 acres land for commercial purpose, about which the KPT had reservations.

Pointing out that the country faced a shortfall of 500,000 housing units, the minister said that during his tenure in the chair of the housing ministry, he approved many housing projects for federal government employees. He added that the current government had provided all the basic needs of the people. He advised that allottees be handed over possession orders and that they take steps for the protection of their plots in view of the nefarious activities of the land mafia and start construction work.

Earlier, Federal Secretary Housing and Services Abdul Rauf Chaudhry said that the allocation order of 300 plots ranging from 120 square yards to 600 square yards would be distributed among federal government employees.

The director-general of the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation, Shahid Hameed, said that under the same project, 219 plots were distributed among Karachi’s federal government employees. He said that federal government employees could submit applications for phase III which would soon start with the help of PECHS, in which 1,000 flats would be developed for federal government staff from grade 1to 16.

At the end, the federal minister distributed land allocation orders among 25 federal government employees.—PPI