LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that his government was focusing on equitable distribution of resources to rich and poor by ensuring basic amenities of life for all.
“The notion of elite capture and the prevailing mindset that Pakistan belongs to a particular class only is regrettable,” he said in his address at the launch of the Punjab Peri-Urban Housing scheme for low-income groups.
Imran said that no nation could prosper with “an island of rich and a big sea of poor” and regretted that during the last 74 years, only a certain elite group ruled the country.
He said that the rich-centric policies inflicted huge damage upon the poor whose access to civic facilities including health, education, and jobs greatly suffered.
The prime minister said that his vision was to make the powerful answerable to law and strengthen the weaker segments of society.
He said that the socio-welfare State of Medina was a model to be emulated where rule of law and justice prevailed regardless of the status of a person.
He pointed that the opposition wanted an NRO-like concession from him to spare their corruption, however, said that such efforts would go in vain.
He said that the political elite in the past patronised illegal land grabbing that led to litigation and obstructed development work.
The prime minister further said that the government had launched several affordable housing schemes for low-income groups, adding that the construction industry was resulting in an economic boom in the country.
As the construction sector was connected with 30 other industries, he said, the step would help resolve the problems of accommodation and unemployment.
He mentioned that the recently cleared foreclosure law of banks greatly helped in materialising the low-cost housing schemes.
Earlier in the day, he launched the housing project at Raiwind neighbourhood to be built at 10 sites to facilitate low-income groups living in smaller cities and rural areas of the province.
وزیر اعظم عمران خان نے دورۂ لاہور کے دوران پنجاب پیری اربن کم لاگت ہاؤسنگ اسکیم کے منصوبےکا آغاز کر دیا۔ #سستا_اور_اپنا_گھر pic.twitter.com/drWOdmOt79
— Prime Minister’s Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) May 6, 2021
The project is being finalised in collaboration with the Punjab government and Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority.
The prime minister also virtually inaugurated the work on different sites at Chiniot, Dera Ghazi Khan, Chunian, Khanewal, Khushab, Mandi Bahauddin, Mianwali, Jalalpur Pirwalla, and Sargodha.
The residential colonies consisting of 100 to 500 housing units will be constructed in the suburbs of cities and rural areas of the province. The land for this purpose will be provided through the Board of Revenue Punjab at an affordable price.
The Board of Revenue (BoR) has identified 133 sites in 35 districts of Punjab. The Punjab government has been provided funds under the first phase for the development of land and infrastructure on these sites.
While the federal government is providing subsidies on each housing unit whereas is also making mortgage arrangements under the prime minister’s markup subsidy scheme.
The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and National Logistic Cell (NLC) will prepare these sites and construct small housing units of 952 square feet each. These sites will have an expansion facility under which 4,000 houses could be added to these sites.
As a progressive project, it will be expanded to 143 tehsils of Punjab province under different phases.
