Punjab Minister reviews plan to provide 5m homes

Says owning a home is the basic right of every citizen

LAHORE: Senior experts from the Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency, Planning and Development Department and Urban Unit held deliberations on low cost housing options. The meeting was held to realise the prime minister’s plan of providing five million houses to the homeless people of Pakistan.

This meeting was chaired by Punjab Minister for Housing Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed at the Urban Unit. Urban planners and architects from various departments also participated in the discussion.

Initially, the with design, cost and detailed plans for Lodhran, Chiniot, Sialkot, Renala Khurd and Chistian were shared by the Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency (PHATA). The Urban Unit was advised by the minister to prepare the design, architectural details, costing, financing models and lease plans of the presented cities. He asked them to brief the central committee of the housing project by next week.

Specialist Urban Architecture senior specialist Nadia Qureshi proposed vertically expanded small units at four storey buildings to make optimum use of the space available. She also described the merits of prefabricated houses for the lower income strata of the society in various cities. She presented financial costing models and all the details on a per unit scale, inclusive of development charges on state owned land.

She requested the minister to help by instructing relevant authorities to approve the Condominium Law which had already been drafted and submitted by the Urban Unit.

“The Punjab Government will initiate the housing plan by initially offering three or five marla low cost residences in a couple of districts. After feedback, the scheme will be replicated in rest of Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2018.