HYDERABAD, April 25: Federal Housing and Works Minister Syed Safwanullah has said there is a shortage of five to six million houses in the country and the shortage is increasing by 200,000 to 250,000 houses per annum. Talking to journalists at the circuit house here on Monday, he said chief ministers of the provinces had been asked to earmark 100 acres of land in each district for construction of housing schemes for federal government employees.

“My department only deals with housing facilities for federal government employees”, said Mr Safwanullah. He maintained that people in general had the impression that the housing and works ministry was dealing with all sorts of construction and housing schemes but it was not correct.

He said a comprehensive housing policy had been announced in 2001 which was the first such policy in the country. He said under the policy his ministry was coordinating with the provinces to provide land to government employees.

The minister said there was a demand of housing in every nook and corner of the country.

He said a housing scheme had recently been launched in Islamabad which would be extended to other cities, including Karachi, Lahore and other provincial headquarters of the country.

Mr Safwanullah said housing schemes would not be launched by the ministry itself as builders would construct houses through bank loans and the amount of construction would be deducted from salaries of government employees in instalments. He said his ministry was only playing the role of a facilitator for housing schemes for employees.