Karachi: Chairman Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) Muhammad Hassan Bakshi has expressed his fears that Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme would not produce the desired results if the government fails to restrict foreign investors from joint ventures with local investors. He also urged the PM to appoint chairman of his task force from private sector. Chairman ABAD and its patron-in-chief Mohsin Sheikhani have been nominated for 17-member task force for Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme.
He also pointed out the high prices of construction material and asked the government to regulate the prices of cement, steel bars, tiles and other construction materials to ensure reduction in prices.
Earlier this year Supreme court of Pakistan had banned the construction of high rise buildings in sindh. The decision was later modified and buildings up to “6th stories” were allowed, subject to availability of proper water supply and sewerage system in new projects. The court had cautioned the builders and developers to ensure that no units will be booked beyond this limit in their projects. Referring to that decision Bakhshi requested. The chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar to revisit the decision in order to provide relief to the ailing construction industry of Pakistan as more than 500 residential projects were pending due to this decision.
He requested the government to restore Fixed Tax Regime (FTR) for the construction sector and added that members of ABAD would construct and hand over possession of houses within one and half year with minimal profit under NPHS.
The financial model of NPHS is designed in such a way that 20 per cent of the total price of the housing unit would be paid by the allottees on monthly instalments while 40 percent would be provided by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to commercial banks at the rate of one percent markup, which would be given to the allottees at the rate of 4 to 5 percent and remaining 40 percent amount would be financed at KIBOR plus 3 percent.
