Amraiz Khan
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Wednesday said that the PM’s vision to providing a roof to shelter-less people has been materialized by the Punjab government as banks and public sector have joined hands to provide residential facilities to the common man.
“The historic agreement signed today paved the way for a new culture to help the needy through mortgage financing.
It is satisfying that the LDA has planned construction of 35,024 apartments over an area of 8,500 Kanals in three years at Mouza Halloke adjacent to Ring Road,” Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said while addressing an agreement signing ceremony worth Rs10 billion between LDA and the Bank of Punjab at his office on Wednesday.
DG LDA Ahmed Aziz Tarar and BoP chairman Zafar Masood signed the agreement for the construction of 4,000 Naya Pakistan Apartments at LDA City over an area of 800 Kanals. The BoP will provide resources for the project.
According to the agreement, the LDA will construct and allot apartments through balloting and will also be responsible for the maintenance of building infrastructure.
The BoP will receive applications, issue letters of comfort to expected allottees along-with the provision of soft loans to successful applicants under Islamic mortgage financing. The project amount will be ring-fenced.
Addressing the ceremony, the chief minister disclosed that PC-I worth Rs20 billion has been approved for the provision of necessary infrastructure including construction of roads, sewerage, supply of water and electricity etc.
The CM added that another PC-I of Rs10 billion has also been approved to construct 4,000 apartments in the first phase.
The apartment’s booking will be made through a 10 per cent down payment and the rest of the payment will be made in instalments, he added.
An apartment would approximately cost Rs2.7 million, the CM continued. Initially, the CM disclosed that the apartment cost was estimated at around 45 lakh rupees but was decreased to facilitate the low-income households.
Giving further details about the scheme, the CM added that a consortium of Punjab Bank, Habib Bank, Faisal Bank, Bank Alfalah, UBL, Meezan Bank and National Bank has been formed to provide a mortgage financing facility.
Naya Pakistan Housing Authority will provide a 3 lakh rupees subsidy while banks will provide soft loans under Islamic banking (takaful).
The loans will be payable in a period of 5, 10 and 20 years and a directorate has also been established to ensure a fast-track implementation, he added.
Meanwhile, CM Buzdar chaired a meeting to review progress on the development projects in the province.
Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht, chief secretary, chairman planning & development and others attended the meeting.
Secretary Finance briefed that the tax collection ratio has increased up to 7 per cent as compared with the previous year as taxes worth Rs1,047 billion were collected till January 2021 and development funds worth Rs191 billion were also issued.
