CM calls for feasible business model to expedite NPHP

Directs officials to settle all matters related to project

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Monday said coordinated efforts and a feasible business model would be devised to accelerate the Prime Minister’s Naya Pakistan Housing Programme (NPHP). The Naya Pakistan Housing Authority (NPHA) and Punjab Housing Taskforce will jointly work to move the project forward.

The chief minister said this while chairing a meeting to progress on the NPHP. Buzdar said the construction of affordable houses for low-income families is a flagship project of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

Suitable sites for the project have already been selected in several districts of the province, he highlighted. The CM added the project would enable middle-class families to own a house.

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He ordered officials concerned to ensure that all matters related to the project should be settled early and voiced hope that NPHP would create tremendous employment opportunities in the province. He said the provincial government would extend and ensure every possible support and facilitation for the speedy construction of these affordable houses.

To encourage the private sector’s investment in the NPHP, the Punjab government has already announced that a new Public-Private Partnership Authority is being established.

In a recent meeting of the NPHP, Punjab Minister for Housing and Urban Development Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed has said a new authority would be established in Punjab to ensure private sector’s participation for speedy construction of affordable housing units.

He highlighted that bylaws of Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency (PHATA) and other institutions were being reviewed to offer relief to builders and developers and encourage them to play their part in the project. He underscored that it would be impossible to build 2.5 million housing units under the scheme without the active participation of the private sector.

The minister said that builders and developers would be provided all-out cooperation by the Punjab government to achieve this target. He reiterated his resolve that incentives would be provided to builders and developers in this regard. He maintained that process of initiation of housing projects under Naya Pakistan Housing Programme would be made transparent in consultation with the private sector and quality of these housing units would also be ensured.

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Construction companies and investors from China, Singapore and the Middle East have already expressed their interest in the NPHP. Delegations from different countries are giving presentations to the Punjab government about their construction experience and available low-cost housing technologies.

In a recent meeting, a Singaporean construction company’s representative told the provincial housing minister that his firm has vast experience of building low-cost houses in Singapore, Sweden and Indonesia. He highlighted that his firm, under prefabrication technology, can built 40 stories tall buildings in just 18 months.

A Chinese company has also offered the PTI government to construct two million houses under the project.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had unveiled the NPHP project in October. In the first phase, the government has decided to start the NPHS in seven districts, including Sukkur, Quetta, Gilgit, Muzaffarabad, Swat, Islamabad and Faisalabad, to construct a total five million houses for the low-income strata of the society during next five years.

Under the NPHP, the government will construct single and double-storey, 1-4 bedroom houses of three and five marlas, besides provisions of all urban amenities, like roads, sewerage, utilities, parks, mosques, commercial areas and community centres.

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Since the NPHP is planned for the low-income families, the government has also made financing possible through the House Building Finance Company (HBFC), Bank of Punjab (BoP) and Meezan Bank. The PHATA officials indicated that after making the down payment applicants can approach designated banks for a loan by pledging their houses for 15 to 20 years.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2019.