Construction industry: Builders ask govt to enforce low-cost housing plan

Govt had promised to build 500,000 houses after taking over in 2013.

KARACHI: The Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) has urged the government to implement its core policies regarding the construction of 500,000 low-cost houses that it announced after taking office in 2013.

“The federal government, especially Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, knows very well that the country has the right policies but the real problem is their implementation,” ABAD Chairman Junaid Ashraf Taloo said while presenting the association’s budget proposals for the upcoming federal budget 2015-16.

To a question about government’s action to solve core issues of the construction industry, the chairman said that many of the industry’s proposals would not receive support of decision-makers, but the situation would improve gradually.

Speaking about developments in favour of the industry, Taloo said the situation was not entirely discouraging for the country’s construction businesses.

“We believe the improvement in law and order, especially in Karachi, has supported the construction industry or it is at least one of the top beneficiaries of it,” he said.

He urged the government to immediately lift the ban on new gas connections to high-rise buildings, otherwise, the industry would not receive new investments.

The alternative to gas connections was LPG cylinders but they posed much more public safety risks compared to the piped gas supply to high-rise buildings, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, ABAD former senior vice chairman and budget sub-committee convener Saleem Kassim Patel said the federal government should introduce revolutionary steps for housing finance in the upcoming budget in order to create millions of new jobs in the country.

The builders pointed to the increasing pressure on the housing industry, especially with the slow implementation of the plan of constructing 500,000 houses coupled with an increase in population.

ABAD members want the government to increase the mortgage-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio that has come down to a mere 0.5% from 2% in the last few years. They believe the government should increase it to 5% to bring about a visible change in the construction industry.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st,  2015.

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