CM reviews progress on low-cost housing scheme

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Monday said that provision of the roof to low-income families was a commitment of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and those who could not afford a house of their own because of meagre resources would soon be the owner of their houses.

The construction of affordable houses for the poverty-stricken genera was the flagship program of the government, he added.

He was chairing a video-link meeting about the construction of low-cost houses for the underprivileged strata.

SACM Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, chief secretary, chairman P&D and secretary housing attended the meeting while secretaries of Finance and Information departments as well as NLC and FWO representatives participated from the civil secretariat.

The Bank of Punjab (BOP) president also attended the meeting through video-link.

The CM said 133 sites had been identified for the prime minister's affordable housing scheme.

As many as 54 locations had been chosen for the first phase and work would be started on a priority basis at 32 sites, he added.

Prime Minister Imran Khan would launch this project, simultaneously, at ten sites in Raiwind, he mentioned.

The Punjab government had provided three billion rupees for the development work and the house size had been increased from 3 marlas to 3.5 marlas, he added.

The CM said a house would be given at Rs. 14.30 lac while the applicant would contribute one lac and 43 thousand rupees and the rest of the amount would be given by Punjab Bank.

The monthly installment would be around 10 thousand rupees and houses would be handed over to successful applicants in one year, he added.

The CM said work was in progress on this project in Sargodha while the scheme was being started in ten tehsils including Chiniot, Lahore, DG Khan, Khushab, Mianwali, Sargodha and Khanewal.

The secretary housing department briefed about the salient features of the project.