Govt announces plans for new city

The government has voiced its plans to build a new city on the Super Highway between Karachi and Hyderabad in order to ease migration pressure on the city.

President Asif Ali Zardari has directed the government to build a new city on the Super Highway between Karachi and Hyderabad.

Named after former Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the city will be called "Zulfikarabad". The President explained the idea of the city during his visit to Karachi in January this year. The Pakistan People's Party-led coalition government has introduced the concept of public-private partnership to overcome the shortage of houses in the country and meet the growing demand in this sector.

The Prime Minister launched the first joint venture of Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA) with Maymar Tower on September 5, 2009 in Karachi.

Under this project, 8,000 apartments will be constructed at Gulshane Maymar, Karachi in three and a half years.

On this occasion, the Prime Minister called for greater coordination between the center and the provinces emphasising that there should be more projects under joint venture, which would help speed up the pace in the housing sector and would also prove to be more result-oriented projects.