CM urges private partnership for housing

Governing body approves surplus budget of PHATA

LAHORE:

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has sought a plan from the Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency (PHATA) to complete the Apni Chhat… Apna Ghar project in partnership with the private sector and permitted it to sign an agreement in this regard.

She was chairing a meeting of the PHATA Governing Body, in which a surplus budget of Rs34.07 billion for the current fiscal year was approved. The receipts are estimated at Rs17 billion and expenditures at Rs13.55 billion. The chief minister approved the Apni Chhat… Apna Ghar programme and was informed during a briefing that 544,000 people had registered on the portal, while 280,000 applications had been received to build houses under the scheme.

She directed the authorities concerned to continue the process of verifying the credentials of the applicants in a speedy manner. She also approved a proposal to upgrade the scale of PHATA data entry operators and recruit civil sub engineers.

Chief Minister Marya Nawaz decided in principle to make the PHATA budget subject to the approval of its Governing Body instead of the provincial cabinet.

She allowed refunds to the applicants of earlier housing schemes who had not succeeded in balloting.

She directed the authorities to ensure the staff hiring for the PHATA Project Management Unit through a job portal.

The CM called for decisions about the housing schemes whose approval was pending on a case-to-case basis.

Meanwhile, the chief minister stated in her message on International Day for Disaster Reduction that control rooms of the institutions concerned were being upgraded to deal with emergency situations.

She said the launch of the air and motorway ambulance services in Punjab was a major step for dealing with emergency situations in line with the requirements of the modern age.

She said the Provincial Disaster Management Authority was being developed on modern lines. "We want to give a safe and stable future to the coming generations by reducing risks of natural disasters," she added.