Foreign firms to invest $8b in housing sector

Two construction companies based in Germany and Canada will invest in the housing sector of Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Two construction companies based in Germany and Canada will invest $8billion in the housing sector of Pakistan, according to Federal Minister for Housing and Works Rehmatullah Kakar. The minister had two separate meetings with the presidents of Germany-based Jiaklien Company and the Canada-based Stardeor in Islamabad on Thursday.

“The [two] companies will invest in Prime Minister’s ‘Housing for All’ program,” Kakar said afterwards.

Minister Kakar, during the meeting, said that security had always been a hurdle in the way of foreign investment in Pakistan. He assured the visiting guests of the government’s full support in providing adequate security for their companies’ workers.

Kakar told The Express Tribune that the government was encouraging and facilitating local and foreign companies by creating an investor-friendly climate in the housing sector of the country.

“One million affordable housing units for the needy, government employees and general public will be constructed all over the country,” he said. The land for these new residential housing units has also been purchased from Capital Development Authority, Lahore Development Authority, Karachi City Managers and Quetta City Administration, he added.

“The housing units across the country will help mitigate the housing crisis in the country and also generate socio-economic activities,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2010.