KARACHI, Oct 27: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz performed on Saturday the balloting of 6,730 residential plots for government employees, their heirs and overseas Pakistanis in Taiser Town, a housing scheme launched by the Lyari Development Authority.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal were also present at the balloting ceremony organised at the Governor’s House.

In his address, the prime minister said Karachi with a population of 20 million people was a city of opportunities. Everyday people came from all over the country to Karachi in search of jobs. “There is a need for good houses for those who come to Karachi in search of jobs and those living here,” he said while stressing the need for building more housing units in the city.

Kutchi abadis were developed in the absence of new housing schemes in large cities, he noted, and said the growth of slums and the menace of land grabbing could be discouraged with a timely launch of housing schemes.

He said the government was regularising kutchi abadis which would make utility services like water, electricity, gas and phone as well as education and health facilities available to their residents.

Mr Aziz said the House Building Finance Corporation and banks would finance the construction of houses on these plots so that the low-income group could also have their own house.

He also underlined the need for simplification of building code, making the approval process as transparent as possible to reduce the chances of corruption.

He asked the authorities to outsource the building plan approval to the private sector.

Earlier in his brief welcome address, City Nazim Mustafa Kamal said that the low-cost housing scheme with 125,000 plots developed in phases had been announced after a gap of 30 years. He said this scheme had been exclusively introduced for low-income people.—APP