Call to set up housing bank to help people get easy loans – Newspaper

ISLAMABAD: Experts on Friday urged the government to establish a ‘housing bank’ to promote housing for low income segments of society and help people in getting loans easily with low interest rate.

“Panelists gave useful proposals to promote low cost housing in Pakistan and said the government should consider setting up a housing bank to promote low cost housing for low income segments,” read a press release issued by the housing ministry on Friday.

The three-day expo is being organised by the Ministry of Housing and Works in collaboration with Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry here at Convention Centre.

A number of panel discussions were held on the second day of the three-day housing expo.

According to the press release, the first session was held on ‘Low Cost Housing and Financing Frameworks’. The panelists in this session were Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Vice PresidentAzharul Islam Zafar, Pakistan Engineering Council Chairman Najeeb Haroon, Acting NPHDA Chairman retired Maj Gen Amer Aslam Khan, Akhuwat Islamic Microfinance CEODr Kamran Shams, ConsultantPublic Policy Business School Hong Kong, University of Science and Technology, Dr Athar Mansoor, Head Islamic Business Pakistan Mortgage Refinance Company Hassan Junaid, Trellis Housing Finance Company CEO Jamshaid Meherhomji, Chaudhry Abdullah from UPDL and Shoji Hasegawa DRR expert Jica.

The second session was held on ‘Urban Governance, Urban Development and Regulation’ with panelists Member Planning and Design CDA Waseem Hayat Bajwa, Director Altair International Emma Ahmed, Co-Founder Atom Camp Naveed Iftikhar and Faculty member of TAF-IAST Sabouhi Sarshar.

In the third session titled ‘Affordable Housing Needs, Realities, Options and Actions’, Chairman Task Force on Housing Zaigham Mehmood Rizvi, Chairperson Department of Architecture BUITEMS Quetta Dr Waqas Ahmed Meher, Chairperson Department of Architecture Comsats Lahore Dr Shariyeh Hossei, Acting Dean School of Architecture and Planning, UMT Lahore Dr Fariha Tariq and Head of Department Structure NICE, Nust, Islamabad Dr M. Usman held detailed discussion on housing issues.

The crux of the discussion was that the government had a major role to play to resolve issues of shortage of housing units in the country.

Meanwhile, PML-N leader retired Capt Mohammad Safdar, Thai Ambassador Chakkrid Kraichaiwong, Ambassador of Vietnam Nguyen Tien Phong, Ambassador of Azerbaijan Khazar Farhadov and ambassador of Northern Cyprus Dilshad Senor visited the expo.

ICCI President Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari and Housing Secretary Iftikhar Ali Shallwani accompanied the visiting dignitaries to various stalls who took great interest in the products and projects displayed in the expo and appreciated the organisers for arranging the event.

Mr Bakhtawari briefed retired Capt Mohammad Safdar about the importance of establishing a new industrial estate in the region to promote industrialisation and investment and he assured that ICCI should give him a proposal and he would try to get its approval from the prime minister.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2022