KARACHI, March 23: The Sindh government has decided to provide housing facility to all government servants on their retirement and to purchase 272 flats from the Pakistan Housing Authority to overcome the housing problem faced by government officials.

These decisions were taken in principle at a meeting here the other day to solve the problem of residence being faced by a majority of the retired government servants.

During their service, most officials avail themselves of official residence but on retirement face hardship in getting reasonable housing. Employees who neither inherit any property nor buy a house for themselves suffer the most.

According to sources, the government will acquire lands in every district to raise low-cost housing projects for the purpose. It has already directed the additional chief secretary, local government, the City District Government Karachi and the land utilization department to identify 100 acres of land in each district for a housing scheme.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, who presided over the meeting, stressed the need to implement low-cost housing schemes for the public. He pointed out that there was an acute shortage of housing units in the province for the low-income people, who could not afford to purchase flats and one-unit bungalows.

The governor called upon the relevant departments to work out a standardized system to build low-cost housing units in Karachi and other districts of the province to solve the housing shortage.

He said the additional chief secretary (development) and all district coordination officers should identify lands for the schemes and that detailed planning for standardization of the system should be worked out.

It is learnt that Karachi Nazim Naimatullah Khan, who also attended the meeting, informed the authorities that certain government organizations, including the Pakistan Railways, the Karachi Port Trust, the Civil Aviation Authority, had been allotted lands by the government for launching such schemes, but the lands were being utilized for commercial ventures.

In this connection, a committee, comprising the ACS (local government), the finance secretary and the district coordination officer, was formed to carry out a study of the complexity of the problem and make recommendations, which would be forwarded to the prime minister's secretariat for necessary action.