PM asks provinces to finalize cadastral mapping within 2 months

Imran says despite negative impact of Covid, country kept its construction sector open

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Imran Khan directed the provinces on Friday to finalise the verification of cadastral mapping data within two months and complete the legislative process against illegal encroachments on public land at the earliest.

Chairing a meeting of the National Coordinating Committee for Housing, Construction and Development, Imran stressed the need for an effective follow-up to the pending cases against encroachments by provincial governments and the Islamabad Capital Territory.

At the meeting, the Surveyor General of Pakistan gave a detailed briefing regarding cadastral mapping in the country. It was highlighted that 88% mapping of the government lands had been completed, which also showed illegal encroachments on thousands of acres of government land worth trillions of rupees.

Most of the encroachments are found on the forest lands, besides on the lands of the Water and Development Authority (Wapda), the National Highway Authority (NHA), the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the and Pakistan Railways (PR).

Separately, Prime Minister Imran visited the site of 4,400 under-construction houses in Farash Town, in the suburbs of Islamabad, under the Naya Pakistan Housing Project. He said that it was for the first time that the people who could never afford, could now own a house of their own.

Imran regretted that the previous governments did not pay heed to the basic needs of the people, including affordable housing. He added that the banks were asked to provide mortgages to the people to help them construct the house of their choice.

“It is our effort that the people have to pay less every month, almost equivalent to what they pay for monthly rent,” he said. The prime minister added that a sum of Rs30 billion had been allocated for this purpose, he added

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Imran said that despite the negative impact of Covid-19 all over the world, Pakistan was one of the few countries which it kept its construction sector open and the people had an opportunity to earn their livelihood.

Currently, he added that 100,000 houses were under construction. “It took almost two years to put in place a structure that can take up this difficult task. Now the Naya Pakistan Authority is fully functional to plan and execute the objective of construction of low-cost houses.”Also on Friday, the prime minister chaired a review meeting about the establishment of the Rahmatullil Alamin Authority. On the occasion,

Imran said that the objective of establishing the authority was to eliminate moral evils and to promote the teachings of Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

The meeting discussed the method for consultation with Ulema and the authority’s proposed measures at the international level. The participants also deliberated on the role of an advisory council and the steps to acquaint the students at schools and colleges about Seeratun Nabi (PBUH).