Engineering Post Report
Naya Pakistan Housing Programme is a targeted response by the incumbent federal government to address the deficit of affordable housing for the citizens across the country.
Under the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme , a well-crafted housing policy has since been adopted to not only provide affordable housing facility to the homeless and low-income population, but also to accelerate domestic economic activity, attract foreign direct investment, improve financial sector and provide job opportunities to the youth.
It has been estimated that affordable housing deficit is around five million units in five years in urban and rural areas of Pakistan. The housing policy would be phasing out the target of constructing one million housing units per year with (i) 0.4 million units/year in the rural areas;(ii) 0.2 million units /year in Peri-Urban areas under Social Housing Schemes, and (iii) 0.4 million units/year in the Urban Areas.
During financial year 2020-21, Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (NAPHDA) had made landmark achievements including 1320 low-cost housing units at Jalozai Housing Scheme, Nowshera; low cost housing project in Sargodha district of Punjab under the Punjab Government Peri Urban Scheme; LDA City Naya Pakistan Apartments in Lahore and 4000 apartment project at Farash Town, Islamabad .
The key features of mortgage and construction finance include: regulatory incentives to banks to promote low cost and affordable housing finance through State Bank of Pakistan cash reserve requirements, lower tax rate and lower provisioning requirements; mark up subsidy for affordable housing mortgage are offered upto 20 years at 3 per cent, 5 per cent and 7 per cent depending upon the size and value of the house; target for housing finance at least 5 per cent of private sector credit by December 2021 amounting to Rs 378 billion, and; Risk insurance by PMRC (40 per cent first loss)—Lower risk –Weights for Low Cost Housing Finance.
Furthermore, the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority has also launched two new projects in Islamabad/Rawalpindi for provision of apartments to the Federal Government Employees under PM’s Naya Pakistan Housing Programme.
