LAHORE, June 12: The Punjab government is expected to enact a law giving an autonomous status to the Punjab Housing and Town Planning Authority by September this year, Dawn learnt here on Wednesday.

Sources in the Housing Department said the government had already approved the autonomy plan.

The PHTPA would be authorized to deal with the international donors contributing for development projects. It would also provide soft loans to low-income people for the construction of houses.

At least 75 per cent of the plots developed by the autonomous PHTPA would measure three to five marlas. It would also build multi-storeyed flats throughout the Punjab.

The department already provides loans to low-income groups.

According to the federal government’s housing policy low-income people should be the focus of lending.

Housing Department officials said the autonomous PHTPA would also solve the problems faced by private investors by providing legal cover for their efforts to attract investment and facilitating approval of site plans.

A land bank, they said, was one of the major pre-requisites for its autonomy. The bank would provide funding for its housing projects.

The director general (Housing), Shahzad Jamil, said the PHTPA autonomy would help the poor build their own houses. He said the private sector would be ‘actively involved.’ “Trunk infrastructure, building controls and physical and spatial planning will be introduced to reduce the dependence on the House Building Finance Corporation,” he added.