Housing Minister Syed Safwanullah has said the present government is committed to resolving the problems of the housing sector.
Speaking in a PTV programme, he said the present government is fully aware of housing-related problems of masses and committed to resolving them.
Few days back President General Pervez Musharraf addressing a meeting of representatives of the construction industry, contractors, property developers and other stakeholders, said the government is committed to boosting the construction industry through revolutionary changes in order to benefit the common man.
The President said all concerned must work together to achieve the common goal of bolstering the construction industry, which will help improve the economy, provide jobs and reduce poverty.
About the land acquisition, he said there are certain genuine land developers, but a large number of unscrupulous societies are creating problems for the people.
The minister said during the meeting it has been decided to computerise documents of land which intend to offer it for housing sector as many housing societies sell the land to many people.
He admitted that it is not an easy job as land mafia is fully involved to cheat the people, saying: "But we are committed to resolving it as soon as possible."
Safwanullah said it has also been decided in the meeting that there should be uniform building laws, reduction in transfer-fee of houses, issuance of No-Objection Certificates, (NOC) by a single agency instead of several bodies.
He said the NOC problem will be streamlined, land transfer fee, and rent control ordinance matters would also be examined and improved.
Responding to a question, the housing minister said for the first time in the history of the country the housing sector has been declared as industry, adding it is reality that this important sector in the past has been ignored which would generate huge job opportunities in the country.
In fact, this industry is one of the biggest sources of jobs creation, he said, and added that a boost to the housing industry will benefit more than 50 industries.
It may be noted here that at present there is need of six million new houses to accommodate about 149 million population of the country. With the ratio of increasing population, the country needs about 570,000 new houses annually.
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