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ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan said Friday that his government’s scheme of subsidised loans for house construction would not only help the low-income group to own a house but also boost the national economy through enhanced construction activity.
He said this is the first time that poor and low income families in the country will have their own homes.
The prime minister, addressing an event marking the approval of over Rs100 billion housing construction loans by private banks under Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar Scheme, the prime minister said the previous governments never thought of extending such a facility to the common man.
“This is a great moment for Pakistan because we are heading on the path which we should have opted way earlier,” the prime minister said. Appreciating the Finance Advisor Shaukat Tarin, State Bank Governor Raza Baqir and Naya Pakistan Housing Chairman Anwar Ali Hyder for their efforts, the prime minister particularly lauded the banks for mending their attitude toward the common man who otherwise used to consider himself an alien in a westernized atmosphere of the banks.
He said the salaried class never had the resources to buy a house but no one ever thought to find out the ways to support them to have the facility.
Recalling his interactions with the overseas Pakistanis during his cricketing career, Prime Minister Imran Khan said they spent years away from their families with the greatest desire of making money to build a house back in Pakistan.
He told the gathering that contrary to Pakistan, it was very easy for the salaried class in the West to buy a house through mortgage finance with a very low and easily affordable interest rate. He said the elite-centric decision-making was the real problem in Pakistan as the rich class used to avail banks loans and English medium education for their children.
He said the incumbent government was not only extending housing loan facilities to the low-income group but had also introduced single national curriculum to provide equal quality education to their children.
Similarly, he said similarly, the condition of the government hospitals deteriorated as the ruling elite either used to go to a private hospital or abroad for medical treatment.
The prime minister said the elitist mindset had greatly hurt the country as previous governments never formulated inclusive policies. Citing the success of the Chinese model, he said China had steered its 700 million out of poverty by uplifting its low-income group.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said by adopting the very approach, Pakistan – a 220 million population – should have been a very strong country and powerful economy. No country, with a very low ratio of people with buying power, can excel, he added.
The prime minister said it was pleasing that the banks had approved over a hundred billion rupee loans for the low-income group and hoped that more people could be attracted if the scheme was properly marketed citing its ease and incentives. Moreover, he said the scheme would also help boost the national economy by increasing construction activity.
He said the foreclosure was stuck up since the 1990s but the previous government showed a blithe lack of concern for the needs of the common man.
He said as another incentive, the government also introduced a subsidy on the housing loan which he also promised to further increase with the improvement of the economic situation.
Earlier, the prime minister also distributed home keys among the beneficiaries of the loan scheme as well as shields among three private banks who showed impressive performance during the process.
Finance Advisor Shaukat Tarin spoke high for the prime minister’s relentless efforts, his decision of subsidy of Rs300,000 a house and reducing markup to just 3-4 percent.
He said in the past, the banks never extended loans to the low-income group but the current volume of Rs 260 billion loans applications and approval of over Rs 100 billion manifested a remarkable change.
The finance advisor said if desired to take the mortgage ratio to 10%, the country should provide around Rs 5.5 trillion loans within 10 years. He said the target of loans equaling 1-1.5% of GDP a year would lead the country to development.
Chairman of Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Lt General (Retd) General Anwar Ali Hyder appreciated the approval and disbursement rate of the housing loans.
He said six months ago, there was no concept of providing housing loans to the low-income group as no one ever paid attention to the segment.
He also appreciated the SBP and private banks for facilitating the common man by easing the farm and loan approval process, adding that now the microfinance banks could also participate in the program.
State Bank Governor Raza Baqir told the gathering that loans worth Rs 109 billion had been approved while the banks had received applications requesting Rs 260 billion of loan.
He said the banks had so far disbursed Rs 32 billion as housing loans among the applicants.
He said on average, the banks were approving Rs 4.2 billion and disbursing Rs 1.7 billion a week.
‘SAARC can provide atmosphere for economic synergies’
Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday said that SAARC could provide a conducive and beneficial atmosphere to build economic synergies, transforming the quality of life of people in South Asian.
The prime minister in a meeting with Secretary-General South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Esala Ruwan Weerakoon, reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the mutually beneficial goals and objectives embodied in the SAARC Charter
As the SAARC Secretary-General also hails from Sri Lanka, the prime minister strongly condemned the Sialkot incident and expressed condolences on the death of Priyantha Kumara who was tortured to death by a mob.
He said that there was no justification whatsoever for such acts and that all necessary steps had been taken in order to speedily bring the perpetrators to justice.
He emphasized strengthening cooperation on issues of common interest including climate change, education, poverty alleviation, energy integration, and health challenges.
The prime minister appreciated SAARC Secretary-General’s efforts to further improve and promote SAARC processes and assured him of continued support of the Government of Pakistan in further strengthening regional cooperation under the SAARC ambit.
He also expressed his hope to host SAARC Summit in Pakistan when artificial obstacles created in its way would be removed.
The secretary-general thanked the prime minister for his guidance on SAARC related issues and assured him that during his tenure, he would make determined efforts to strengthen the collaboration among member states in different fields for the benefit of all the countries of South Asian region.
Govt restores Monroe hiking trail in KP under eco-tourism vision: PM
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that the present government under its vision of promoting eco-tourism through 10 Billion Tree Tsunami had restored the historic 50 kilometers long Monroe hiking trail in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
“Under our vision of promoting #Eco Tourism, the historic #Monroe hiking trail has been restored in #KP under our #10BillionTreeTsunami – traversing 50 km of pristine natural forest with two overnight #glamp sites,” he said in a tweet posted on his social media account.
The prime minister in his tweet also shared a video of the historic and most scenic Monroe hiking trail in Siran and Kaghan valleys of KP.
The video depicted lush green meadows, luxuriant dense forest, stunning milky waterfalls, gushing green water and many more attractions such as nomadic life, snow fields, glaciers, mountain peaks, 100 years old historical forest hut and monumental trees including the 2000 years old Deodar tree of Pakistan.
‘Blue economy’
Minister for Maritime Affairs Syed Ali Haider Zaidi and Special Assistant on Maritime Affairs Mahmood Moulvi called on Prime Minister Imran Khan here on Friday and discussed Pakistan’s growing importance in the economic prosperity of region through blue economy.
Besides, the Prime Minister was also briefed about increase in country’s foreign exchange due to measures taken by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs as well as the Ministry’s restructuring and large scale reforms in fisheries sector.
The Prime Minister while appreciating the steps taken by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs directed to speed up the implementation of measures.