Islamabad (Web Desk): Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of seven housing projects.
Addressing the ceremony in Islamabad, the premier said that government is working on removing obstacles in the way of the construction sector so that they are able to provide affordable housing to people.
The housing projects are aimed at building 20,000 housing units at a cost of Rs100 billion, the Radio Pakistan reported.
Among these projects, six of the projects pertain to the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority while one other will be executed by the Pakistan Housing Authority Foundation.
PM Imran said that whenever there is a project that is "off the trodden path", it is always viewed with scepticism.
"But this will only get easier as we move forward. The government never had money to make 5 million homes, they were always going to be built by the private sector.
The government was always going to facilitate this. Today marks the start of this journey," he added.
PM Khan pointed out that in a large part of the world, houses are financed by banks, adding that financing in Pakistan stood at 0.2 per cent.
The PM expressed that he was aware the country's interest rate was very high.
"It was necessary for us to keep our monetary policy, our interest rates high due to the state of our economy. But, the data shows that inflation has gone down which will also drag down interest rates, ultimately making it easier for citizens to take loans in order to finance the construction of their homes," the PM said.
PM Khan said that the Naya Pakistan Housing Authority will not only provide housing to federal employees but will also, at the same time, strengthen the various industries associated with it, thereby creating employment authorities for the youth.
He said that there needs to be a new master plan for the country's cities. He said that the cities, even villages, are spreading [expanding horizontally].
This is having an impact on pollution levels and is also affecting food security.
"There needs to be vertical expansion of our cities," PM Imran said, adding that the government has made this process easier by removing certain restrictions in place.