100k homes promised annually

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has ordered a detailed review of three and five marla government housing schemes across the province.

Presiding over a meeting in which progress made on the Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar programme was reviewed in detail, she asserted that the task of construction of 100,000 houses annually should be completed under any circumstance.

The scheme to provide free plots to homeless citizens in Punjab was reviewed along with consideration of various proposals in this regard. It was decided that an eight-member committee would be constituted to finalise the terms of reference for providing plots to the public free of charge.

The chief minister was informed that directions had been issued to expedite the development work of 2,807 plots in 35 government housing schemes in 22 districts across Punjab. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz issued directives to accelerate the development process of 1,119 plots in nine government housing schemes in seven districts.

She assigned the task to the stakeholders to complete the construction of 20,000 houses by the end of February across the province under the Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar programme.

She was informed that loans worth Rs8.2 billion had been disbursed for the construction of 9,015 houses. Officials said 2,050 people had received the second installment of loans and 4,841 houses were nearing completion.

The CM was informed that the number of citizens who had visited the portal of then programme had crossed 728,000. More than 400,000 applications along with complete documents have been received. The process of submission of the required documents for over 74,000 applications is under way.