ISLAMABAD, May 30: An advisory committee has recommended to Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali to initiate a low-cost housing scheme to facilitate the common people.

A member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee, Senator Waqar Ahmad Khan, told journalists here on Sunday that the committee had also recommended incentives for the housing sector in the forthcoming budget.

The government, he said, was working hard to steer the country towards making the it a developed nation in the 21st century. Along with providing lost-cost houses to the poor, the housing sector offered a huge potential for providing jobs to millions of unemployed skilled and semi-skilled people.

Senator Waqar said: "If the housing sector is given priority, it will also rejuvenate the auxiliary industries like steel and cement industry." Investment in the housing sector would also attract capital investment in the real-term market instead of the speculative market, he said.

Residential plots, he said, should be offered to the public and private sector employees on long-term credit to increase national savings besides promoting the housing industry. -APP