Naya Pakistan Housing Program: 8400 kanal land identified for construction of 12,000 housing units in KP: PHA

PESHAWAR: Naya Pakistan Housing Program, a flagship project of PTI led government to construct quality and affordable houses for homeless and poor, is transforming fast into reality in Khyber Pakthunkhwa where 8400 kanals land were identified for construction of 12,000 housing units in first phase in three different districts of the province.

“In line with vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, work on ‘Naya Pakistan Housing Project is in full swing in KP, identifying 8400 kanal land in three major districts for construction of 12,000 housing units on which practical work would soon commence,” Muhammad Waqas Anjum, Financial Expert, Provincial Housing Authority (PHA) Government of KP told APP on Wednesday.

The land has been identified in Swat, Peshawar and Hangu districts during an extensive survey by the Housing Department and PHA, adding the houses would be constructed with assistance of Communication and Works Department.

Giving details of the land sites, the PHA official said around 4100 kanal land has been identified at Surizai Peshawar, 4000 kanals in Hangu and 300 kanals in Swat, adding nearly, 7,50,000 housing units would be constructed under this landmark program over a period of five years in the province.

On July 15, 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan have formally opened the second phase of registration for the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme across the country including Khyber Pakthunkhwa.

The registration is in full swing in the province being conducted with assistance of NADRA and response of people is overwhelming.

The objective of the countrywide registration process by the Pakistan Housing and Development Authority through this scheme is to collect data regarding the demand for housing units across the country and launch projects accordingly, Waqas said.

PHA official said persons with disabilities, martyrs of police, widows and terrorism affected people of erstwhile Fata would be given special relief in payment process.

PHA would perform facilitator’s role in the project and would extend full cooperation to C&W Department, NPHP management and other lines departments for speedy materialization of the program in the province.

Pakistan is confronted with a major problem of shortage of housing units since long and at least 10 million houses are required by 2025 to cater demands of around 210 million people.

The country is lagged behind in housing sector owing to the absence of mortgage facility for low-income class and shared negligence of the past rulers towards this important sector, resulting unprecedented increase in prices of properties and houses’ rents in cities of the country.

Khyber Pakthunkhwa is also facing an acute shortfall of housing units as housing facility is available only to 3.845million households against a huge population of 30.052million with an average annual growth rate of 2.89percent during 1998-2017.

Only 0.558million households enjoy housing facility in erstwhile Fata against a total population of 5.01million, registering an average annual growth of 2.41pc during the said period.

Influx of Afghans refugees, migration of tribal people of erstwhile Fata and masses from other far flung districts like Chitral, Kohistan, Batagram, DI Khan etc for better socioeconomic services have put extra pressure on housing units in Peshawar with 40.269million people having an annual population growth of 3.99pc.

This increase of population and poor policies of past rulers has resulted an substantial increase in prices of properties and rent of houses in recent years in Peshawar.

The price of five marla house in Hayatabad Peshawar is ranged between Rs120-130 million whereas same house on rent is available on Rs35000-40,000 these days, which is beyond purchasing power of poor, middle and salary class.

"Despite my 41 years service in Govt, I can't able to construct even a three marla house in Peshawar due to high cost of land and construction materials," Misal Khan, a retired Govt servant told APP.

He said low income groups and employees are paying their hard earned money as house rent for entire life as they are unable to construct a two-room house for their families due to rapid increase in land and construction prices in Peshawar that needed to be checked.

“NPHP is a momentous step to make poor people become master of their own house,” he said.

"I have paid over 20lakh hard earned money as house rent during last 10 years and there is no let up in this painful activity till now," Nasir Ali, an employee of public sector organization told APP.

The project is under a ray of hope for poor people as under this project five million houses would be constructed for homeless, labourers, farmers and poor people of Pakistan, Nasir Ali said.

Like, Nasir and Misal Khan, hundreds of thousands of homeless and poor people are registering themselves with NADRA to get their own house.

The launching of registration process has created widespread jubilation among homeless and poor people of Khyber Pakthunkhwa as completion of this mega project would immensely ease their financial woes.

The project carried significant importance for construction related industries as it would boost 40 other allied industries besides providing a golden opportunity for individuals who want to invest in these schemes for financial gains besides generating employment opportunities of hundreds of thousands of workforce, labourers and youth in the country.