ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged the countrymen to show patience and don't get nervous in the current situation as the nations have to experience such difficulties in the process of reformation.
He, however, assured that the current phase would be overcome soon and the country would emerge stronger.
He was addressing the launching ceremony of a housing project here under the umbrella of his flagship initiative of five million low-cost houses -known as Naya Pakistan Housing Programme.
Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) has selected a site in the mauve area of G-13 for the said project to build high-rise building to provide housing units to grade 1 to 16 government employees under the prime minister's programme through a joint venture with private sector.
The prime minister criticised the previous governments for taking loans and subsequently putting the country into the present difficult economic situation and said that his government is on the way of reformation.
"Only a little segment of the beneficiaries of status quo makes hue and cry whenever the reforms process kicks off," the prime minister maintained, advising the people: "I want to say my people to show patience as such difficult times arrive in the upgradation of system."
He stressed that his government wants to uplift the marginalized segments of society by providing them their own houses and it is the first project initiated in the federal capital, which will provide 25,000 housing units.
PM Khan further informed that similar projects would also be executed in other parts of the country and in the first phase, 110,000 and 6,000 houses would be constructed in Balochistan and Kashmir respectively.
He said that providing 50 million housing units was not an easy task but he accepted it because he envisioned it as quite important for the uplift of the country. He hoped that the project would not only increase the business activities of allied industries but also create enormous job opportunities.
He also said that high-rise residential buildings would be constructed for the people living in katchi abadis across Pakistan while commercial buildings would also be constructed on city slums so that economic activity can be generated.
Imran Khan further revealed that a Chinese company has offered to set up a pre-fabricated factory in Pakistan with a capacity to construct one storey in a week.
He said, “We are trying to involve private sector in the housing sector and facilitate our youth to come forward in the construction arena.”
Earlier while speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Asad Umar declared the programme as a great task accepted by the prime minister and said the government is approaching private banks to offer loans to common people under a special policy announced by the State Bank of Pakistan in this regard in which they will be given relaxation in tax rates.
He also informed the participants about a revolving fund of five billion rupees established by the government to grant micro-credit to poor people enabling them to have their own house.
Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Housing and Works Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema has claimed that utmost transparency will be ensured in said project and even the extreme opponents of his government would not be able to point fingers on it.
He explained the multi-faced benefits of the project saying that a total of 40 industries are directly and 42 are indirectly linked with the housing sector, which will not only generate economic activities, but also create job opportunities for the youth.
He said that the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme is a step forward for the realization of Prime Minister's vision of uplifting the poor.
The ceremony was attended by a large number of senior bureaucrats, lawmakers, political figures and people from all segments of the society.