THE real estate sector has emerged as one of the best investment opportunities in the last two years for those having black or untaxed money.

This has not only created tens of thousands of jobs but also proved to be the best profitable venture for big and small investors in the country and overseas owing to the amnesty scheme that aimed at attracting remittances.

On the other hand, lack of government regulations and non-implementation of existing bylaws have swept away billions of hard-earned rupees of people of lower middle and lower classes through thousands of unregistered private housing societies in Pakistan.

Due to the lack of a task force in relevant housing authorities and regularity bodies, these unregistered housing societies looted public money by advertising their ‘futuristic’ but fake projects by projecting them as real. Innocent, gullible people thronged the offices of all such societies to grab an opportunity of having a plot of land on a throwaway price, which, in fact, is impossible to deliver.

Owing to the phenomenal increase in the real estate sector, prices of all types of properties have gone up by 200 per cent to 300pc since the announcement of the amnesty for real estate investors.

Now when the government has ordered the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to enhance its approved price, or ‘deputy commissioner (DC) price’ in real estate parlance, to get more taxes from the builders and investors, this initiative can halt real estate investment and stop remittances which are the backbone of our economy, especially in the current fragile economic scenario.

Steel and cement prices have already gone up manifold which has virtually doubled the cost of construction. The government should take immediate steps to reduce construction material prices by decreasing import duty on steel bar and cement so that affordable housing becomes possible.

The government should also postpone its approved price at least for another couple of years so that the people in the poor segments of society may also own their houses on a reasonable price.

Besides, all the relevant regulatory authorities must have a representative from the real estate sector to advise

them on real market prices, and to suggest a reasonable enhancement in taxes by FBR.

This should also be done to monitor and control the ‘file mafia’ of private housing societies so that low-income people’s hard-earned money can be saved from real estate sharks, and to allow the real players of the housing sector to deliver to the people by diverting real estate investment from bogus file mafia of housing societies to approved housing schemes.

No such authority is in place that may control or distinguish between real housing societies and those which only advertise to sell ‘futuristic dream homes’.

If the proposed authority works in the real sense, the real estate sector can not only become a major source of tax revenue, but can also be one of the best job creators in the country. Above all, remittances can also be enhanced manifold by giving security to investments made by expatriate Pakistanis.

Aamir Shah
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2022