LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Housing Mian Mehmood-ur-Rashid on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan would inaugurate the construction of 4000 apartments under Naya Pakistan Housing Project in Lahore during the current month.

He stated this during his visit to the proposed site at LDA-City here. Vice Chairman of LDA SM Imran, Member of Governing body Engineer Amir Riaz, LDA Additional Director General Rana Tikka Khan, Chief Engineer Abdul Razzaq Chohan and other officials were present.

The minister said that governing body of LDA had approved PC-1 worth about Rs. 20 billion for construction of roads, water supply and sewerage system, sidewalks, and other infrastructure on 8,500 kanals of land earmarked for construction of 35,000 apartments in Halloki area of LDA City while the PM would inaugurate the construction work of the first phase.

He said Lahore Development Authority had sought approval of the mechanism for allotment of 4000 apartments, to be constructed under the first phase of LDA City Naya Pakistan project, from the Punjab Cabinet.

The Governing body already approved draft of the agreement between Lahore Development Authority and Bank of Punjab for issuance of Letter of Comfort by the bank to the prospective allottees, extending loan facility to them for purchasing apartments and transferring these amount into the special bank account established for the project, he added.

The Minister said that apartments, each comprising of two bedrooms and covering an area of 650 square feet. The apartments would be built in the form of four-storey blocks, on 563 kanals of land at a cost of about Rs. 10 billion. Every block would consist of 32 residential units and a total of 125 such blocks would be constructed under this project, he added.

He said Lahore Development Authority already had invited tenders from builders, firms and contractors registered with Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) for construction of LDA City New Pakistan Apartments, adding that a timeline of one and a half year had been set for completion of these apartments.

The price of an apartment has been estimated as Rs 2,706,519 which will be payable in form of easy monthly installments. Applications for allotment will be received through Bank of Punjab and wide publicity will be carried out through newspapers, electronic media and digital media for the information of general public in this regard.