Apna Ghar: Minister, secretary disagree on progress

Ministry officials say land selected, homework done for five pilot projects.

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Housing and Works has refuted its own secretary, after he told Prime Minister’s Youth Programme (PMYP) chief Maryam Nawaz Sharif that no substantial headway had been made in the “Apna Ghar” low-income housing scheme.

Housing Secretary Younas Dhagha told the PMYP chairperson on June 12 that no tangible development had been made in the scheme owing to the administrative and logistical issues. The secretary, however, assured the meeting that the project will be completed in a four-year phased plan. Housing Minister Usman Ibrahim was not present at the meeting.

A ministry official who did not want to be named said work on the project is slow, but the secretary did not share a clear picture of the scheme. He said that the secretary was absent from the office for the last few days and had not been updated on the project.

Another source in the ministry said Thursday’s episode may lead to an open confrontation between the minister and the secretary. “The minister expressed displeasure with the briefing and has decided to personally take this issue up with Prime Minister Sharif,” he added.

The ministry says land has been selected for the scheme and initial planning has been done for five pilot projects around the country.

Maryam Nawaz Sharif instructed the ministry to speed up work and share a feasibility report in 15 days. She also told the officials to cut through the red tape.

Announced by the prime minister in October last year, the plan is to build 500,000 houses in five years for which five-marla and three-marla models were also approved by a steering committee in December 2013. An allocation of Rs60 billion had been made for the project in the 2014-15 budget.

The prime minister, however, has yet to give formal approval to start work on the housing scheme across the country, ministry officials said.

A scheduled meeting of the ministry officials with the prime minister on June 12 was postponed till June 19. Housing Secretary Dhagha was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2014.