‘Turkey will help solve our housing problem’

Local and foreign experts address city planning issues at five-day forum.

LAHORE: Pakistan needs to take advantage of the expertise of developed countries like Turkey to resolve the severe shortage of housing, Chief Minsiter Shahbaz Sharif said as he inaugurated the five-day Urban Forum at the Alhamra on The Mall on Tuesday.

Local and international experts will give lectures and hold round table conferences on urban development and planning, solid waste management, health, water stabilisation and waste water treatment, and other topics at the forum, organised by the Urban Unit of the Planning and Development Department.

The chief minister said Turkey was helping the Punjab government build the Ashyana housing scheme for low-income groups at a cost of just $450,000. If some other country was helping the cost might have been ten times that amount, he said.

He said the misuse and mismanagement of government land resulted in encroachments, which helped strengthen land mafias. He said a majority of the housing societies in Lahore were illegal and didn’t have basic infrastructure. This was a failure of the governments that had ruled the country and failed to give citizens the basic amenities. “I am not blaming politicians, but now we have to take positive steps to provide citizens with basic facilities. This cannot be done without proper urban planning,” he said.Sharif said that people from all walks of life should play a part in building the nation. He said he was willing to sell his coat and all his possessions to help the country.

Published in The Express  Tribune, March 2^nd, 2011.