Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has announced Rs30 billion in subsidy for his government’s flagship Naya Pakistan housing scheme project in line with helping the underprivileged class build their own homes.
Addressing the nation after chairing a meeting of the National Coordination Committee on Housing, Construction, and Development, PM Imran on Friday said the scheme was aimed at the “working class, the welder, the small shop owner, who do not have a lot of money to build their own houses”.
“The goal of the Naya Pakistan housing scheme was to construct houses for this strata of the society, which doesn’t have cash.”
“We faced many hindrances while launching the scheme due to some existing legislation, such as the foreclosure law, which allows banks not to lend out money without a confirmation of repayment.”
“[However] despite a lot of hurdles, we were successful in passing the law for Pakistan, which is now implemented around the world,” he said.
The prime minister also spoke of the construction sector, saying it faced a lot of obstacles, but that the NCC had worked on formulating policies for its revival.
“We have decided to revive our economy with housing and construction industry so that people can get jobs and we can generate revenue in times of global recession and pandemic,” he noted.
“I, myself, will preside this meeting every week to supervise the working and progress of the committee regarding the Naya Pakistan housing scheme.”
“We only have time till December 31 to provide incentives to the construction industry,” he added.
PM Imran explained that under the Naya Pakistan housing scheme, Rs30 billion had been allocated as a subsidy, which would translate into Rs300,000 for each of the 100,000 households during the first phase of the programme.
A 5% interest is levied on a five-marla house and 7% for 10-marla, he noted. “We have also directed the SBP [State Bank of Pakistan] to keep 5% of the portfolio for the construction industry, which is calculated to be Rs330 billion,” he said.
