Non-entitled allotments of govt houses canceled: Kakar

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for Housing and Works, Rehmatullah Kakar has said that all non-entitled allotments of government houses made during the interim government has been canceled.
In a panel interview with APP, he said that there is acute shortage of government houses in the federal capital and the low-paid government employees are running from pillar to post to get official accommodation. Thousands of government houses have been occupied by illegal way in the federal capital alone and the PDA government will not spare such people and will get vacate these houses from them.
The allotment procedure will be made transparent and in future, all allotments of government houses will be made on merit, he added. He said record of Estate Office is being scrutinized and evidences are being collected while strict action will be taken against the officials found involved in illegal allotments of government houses.
“I am deeply depressed to say that not even the officials of the Estate Office and ministry were involved in corruption and to allot government accommodation but the former concerned heads of the ministry did not spare the poor people,” he regretted. To a question about issue of G-6 quarters, Kakar said that the previous governments differed the case of ownership rights to the occupants of the quarters as it will set a precedent for other government employees to get official accommodation following their retirement.
He said that not even a particular mafia is involved in illegal occupation of government houses but politicians, police and high officials were involved in it, adding that some of these people have sublet the houses. He said that a list of such people has been prepared and notices have been issued to them. The Minister for Housing and Works revealed that according to a survey the prize land of G-6 was worth Rs 450 billion and the government was not in a position to give such a precious land on ownership basis.
“Notices have been issued to the occupants of G-6 quarters and government has decided to start a grand operation, and if necessary Frontier Constabulary would be used to get vacate these quarters, the minister warned. He said that government would provide alternative accommodation to these people and a new sector would be developed for them.
All record of housing ministry and Estate Office is being put on the web site so that there is no kickback in allotment of houses and the grabbing of government land in future, he added. To another question, the minister said that on the directives of Prime Minister Sayed Yousuf Raza Gilani one million houses would be constructed for low-paid federal government employees and general public to address acute shortage of houses.
He said that all professionals including doctors, lawyers and business community would also be allotted apartments and flats. In this connection a housing scheme of 1,000 flats is being launched in Sector G-10 within next two weeks, he said and added that all those who have no personal house can apply in the scheme.
The housing units will be given to federal government employees and general public on ownership basis, he said. Similarly, he added that 3,000 flats will be constructed in Sectors G-14, F-12 and I-16 for low-paid federal government employees.
He said that the PHA is also working on a plan to construct 37,000 housing units for federal government employees of Grade 1 to 16 and 17 to 22 on the pattern of Army Welfare Trust, which will be given to them on ownership basis after retirement. Ten thousand housing units for occupational groups officers of Grade 17 to 22 will be constructed near Kurri Road for which 234 acre of land has been identified.
The Minister said that the PDA government has also revived five marla scheme in the country and for this purpose the provincial and district government would provide land to the Housing Ministry where construction work will be started through local and foreign construction companies. To a question about non-implementation of housing policies, he said that a new housing policy is being prepared and almost 50 percent of its work has been completed.—APP
He said that new residential sectors in the capital will be launched and added that development work in Sector F-12 will be started very soon. He added that the issue of Sector D-12 will also be resolved.
He said foreign construction companies of China, Korea, Turkey have so far conveyed their expression of interests to Pakistan to participate in the mega scheme where conventional as well as modern techniques of construction would be applied.
He said that state of the art construction work will be carried out in the scheme to provide the dwellers modern style of living having all the facilities of clean environment, sewerage system and clean drinking water.
Banks will also provide loans for low-paid government employees and general public to get these houses, he said and added that talks with foreign banks particularly Bank of China were also going on to give loans to people on easy mark up.
To make the mega scheme transparent, a monitoring council will also be set up having head of all the major departments who will be directly answerable to the Prime Minister, he said.
Kakar said that besides meeting the growing demand of housing units the mega scheme will also provide jobs to thousands of people.
He said that the project will be put up in next meeting of the federal cabinet for approval.He said a complete sketch of the plan would be presented within first 100 days of the new government.