Victims of the devastating earthquake 6 years ago received long awaited relief as House Building Finance Company Limited, HBFCL, (formerly known as House Building Finance Corporation Limited) distributed ownership/title documents to borrowers who had become victims of the earthquake.
HBFCL's outstanding loans, amounting to Rs 916 million, were written off by HBFCL and the properties were transferred to the near 5000 affected HBFCL customers. On the 6th anniversary of the earthquake and in a simple ceremony held at the Presidency in Islamabad on October 8, Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh handed over ownership documents to a small group of the legal heirs and owners of the affected properties.
Meanwhile HBFCL officials have started door to door distribution of ownership documents to affected borrowers in the earthquake affected areas of Bagh, Balakot, Muzzafarabad and Mansehra districts. Also present at the ceremony were President Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan and members of AJK cabinet.
HBFCL, which reported a profit of Rs 113 million in 2010 under its new management team, after suffering continuous losses for several years, is fast emerging as an efficient and customer-focused housing finance institution. In the half yearly financial results announced for 2011, HBFCL posted a profit of Rs 95 million, which is strong testimony of its sustainable growth and success of its Transformation Strategy.
Writing off the loans of earthquake affected borrowers is in line with HBFCL's corporate social responsibility programme, that earlier witnessed the organisation contributing Rs 100 million to the Prime Minister's Flood Relief Fund in 2010, and spending another Rs 25 million so far in emergency food and medical supplies for the people affected by the floods this year.
Speaking about HBFCL's action to benefit the earthquake affected borrowers, the Managing Director HBFCL, Azhar Jaffri stated, "HBFCL management had to play a critical role in resolving this long outstanding humanitarian issue, in a fully transparent manner. As the country's oldest housing finance institution, now undergoing a holistic transformation, HBFCL fully appreciates that it must lead from the front to address housing issues all over the country. Here I would like to state unequivocally, that providing this substantial relief to the victims was possible for the HBFCL, only because of the strong and unqualified support extended by the present government and the Ministry of Finance"--PR
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