PM orders residential projects for overseas Pakistanis

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has issued directives to the Capital Development Authority and the Islamabad chief commissioner to immediately launch two mega residential projects of international standards for overseas Pakistanis in Islamabad to bring investment and stimulate economic activities.

Sources said that the prime minister has constituted a high-powered committee headed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to start work on the housing projects on an emergency basis.

The sources said that after the prime minister’s directives, the land has identified in Sector C-14 Islamabad. The sources said that work on the two projects will be started immediately and completed in record time.

The sources said that the prime minister has started the initiative to bring foreign investment in the country and to provide high-quality residential facilities to overseas Pakistanis in the federal capital.

Meanwhile, CDA Chairman Noorul Amin Mengal has directed Member Planning and Design Waseem Bajwa to immediately carry out the feasibility study and prepare the project concept (PC-1) so that it could be presented before the committee on an urgent basis.

The sources said that initially 10,000 residential plots will be developed after the approval of the PC-1. With the feasibility ready, the head of the committee, Ishaq Dar will brief the prime minister about the residential projects and obtain formal approval from him before the booking for the housing schemes was opened for the ex-pats.

The projects will be publicised not only in the national media but also in the United States, England, European countries, the Gulf states and other places where overseas Pakistanis live, the sources said.

In the first phase, 10000 ex-pats will be able to book the residential plots while more plots will be offered at a later stage. Sources said that the CDA has identified 17,000-kanal in Sector C-14 and Kuri area. Initially, between 10,000 to 11,000 residential plots will be developed, after which, 20,000 plots will be demarcated in four more sectors in the next phase, the sources said.

A senior CDA official confirmed that an initial briefing will be given to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar soon after which contracts for development works will be awarded. In response to a question, he said that the prime minister has strictly ordered that the aim of the projects was not only to collect money but also to give possession of developed plots to the investors in record time so that public confidence in the institutions was restored.

The official said that the projects will be developed as per international standards and commercial plots and shopping centres will also be part of the housing schemes.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2023.