LAHORE, Sept 3: The Punjab government and the State Bank of Pakistan finalized on Wednesday a policy under which bank loans will be arranged for the construction of houses.
The policy was finalized at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and attended by SBP Governor Dr Ishrat Husain, Chief Secretary Hafeez Akhtar Randhawa, P&D chairman Humayun Farshori, secretaries of the finance, communication and works, cooperatives and housing departments, the cooperatives registrar and Bank of Punjab chairman Kamran Rasool.
According to sources, it was decided that the Sate Bank would provide a guarantee for the loans to be offered by the commercial banks. Similarly, the government agencies like the development authorities and the revenue department would issue revenue documents certification for the loans.
The chief minister said the policy of facilitating loans for the construction of houses would also develop 21 allied industries like cement and steel. A mega project would be launched for the provision of residential facilities to the people who would also be provided with resources for the purpose.
He said the State Bank would play an effective role for the provision of financial resources for the construction of houses.
Dr Ishrat informed the meeting that the State Bank had removed all technical hurdles blocking loans for the projects to be launched on a BOT basis.
Loans for the BOT projects would now be given to developers or individuals interested in constructing roads like the Lahore-Faisalabad highway, and those intended to introduce a housing society.
The chief minister said the Punjab Provincial Cooperatives Bank was giving Rs7.50 billion easy loans to the cooperative societies.
He ordered the officials concerned to prepare a list of bogus cooperative societies and initiate action against them. The government would allow only genuine cooperative societies to function, he said.
The chief minister said the government intended to start corporate farming under which farmers would be given fertilizers, seeds and agriculture implements.