PTI government’s flagship project is in the doldrums, and a Senate panel has advised landowners of villages to insist on increasing their property prices for the Naya Pakistan Housing project.
ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works has been informed that during the time that PTI Chairman Imran Khan served as prime minister, no progress was achieved on the Kashmir Avenue apartment, a project that was initiated under the Naya Pakistan Housing programme.
The upper house panel, which met under the leadership of Senator Haji Hidayatullah, also spoke about the acquisition of land for the villages of Mauza Tama and Moorian.
In two villages in Islamabad, Mauza Tama and Moorian, the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) is required to build a housing project for government workers, but the local landowners there are certain that the rate of their properties should be raised.
FGEHA is a department within the Ministry of Housing whose responsibility it is to create housing options for public servants.
Senator Bahramand Tangi said during the meeting that the general public was being denied their rights, adding that Section 4 had been in place for the previous five years with no change in either village.
Iftikhar Shallwani, the housing secretary, said that a meeting had been held with the landowners in Mauza Tama and Moorian, noting that “some progress” had been made.
He claimed that the landowners desired to raise the price of their property, citing the housing authority. He added that they were prepared to send the affected parties checks for Rs3.4 million per kanal because this cost had been previously publicised and that the price could not be altered once the land was granted.
The committee instructed the relevant authorities to address the problems in both villages as soon as possible.
During the discussion, the panel also talked about the Kashmir Avenue housing development.
FGEHA DG Tariq Rasheed responded that 16% of the project’s work had been done when asked about the project’s status.
The committee members expressed worry that only 16% of the project’s work had been completed so far despite the fact that it was scheduled to be finished in three years, or by 2023.
In the following meeting, the panel requested arbitration for the former project contractor as well as other information. It further stipulated that the project should be finished as soon as possible.
The council was also informed that the state office’s commercial property in Karachi’s Saddar neighbourhood had been rented for Rs 3 per month.
