Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Terming housing and agriculture as key areas, Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday said his government would welcome foreign investment with modern technology to bring improvement in the lives of common man.
Addressing at the groundbreaking ceremony of a plant for Easy Prefabricated Homes by a leading Chinese company Henan D.R. Construction Group in Faisalabad, held at PM House, he said prefab construction was the best option for low-cost and quicker housing set-up.
The Chinese Group during an earlier meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan during his official visit to Beijing had decided to invest in Pakistan and transfer the technology to manufacture prefab houses in the country to meet export and domestic demands.
The prime minister said the cost of prefabricated houses was typically cheaper and faster than the traditional construction and mentioned that similar projects were a success in Turkey and India.
He said prefabricated houses would be constructed in big cities like Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad to provide the population cheaper accommodation and would also help replace shanties in slums.
The prime minister mentioned that construction of prefabricated houses and flats takes only a few months as compared to the cemented construction that usually takes up to four years.
The Prime Minister said besides housing, the agriculture was another priority for the government as 25 percent of the GDP was connected with this sector.
He said increasing productivity of agriculture through modern techniques would help address poverty in rural areas.
He said Board of Investment, the Ministry of Commerce and other relevant departments were taking steps to facilitate foreign businessmen to encourage investment.
The prime minister lauded the efforts of Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing towards strengthening Sino-Pak relations, particularly for encouraging Chinese investors to explore Pakistan’s diverse areas.
China’s ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing said China would continue facilitating the Pakistan government in areas related to economic development.
He said in view of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s people-centric vision, the Chinese government had decided to provide assistance to his development projects of Naya Pakistan. Chairman Henan D.R.Construction Group Huang Daoyuan said his company would set up factory of building prefabricated material in Faisalabad’s Special Economic Zone. He said the manufacture of pre-fab houses in Pakistan would help Pakistan earn foreign exchange through export of construction material and would also meet the domestic demands. Chairman China Machinery Engineering (CMEC) Zhang Chun said the company would prepare the building material which could be purchased by local and international construction companies.
