Association of Builders and Developers (Abad) Chairman Babar Mirza Chughtai hoped that Shaukat Aziz, after he is sworn in as the prime minister, will pay special attention to the construction sector, and direct the Sindh government to resolve the problems of the construction on priority basis.
Congratulating Shaukat Aziz on his victory in by-elections, he said it is an honour for the entire nation that Shaukat Aziz has pledged to revive the economy of the country and build a prosperous nation in future.
Chughtai recalled that Shaukat Aziz has took special attention to reviving the housing and construction industry in Pakistan, and he took a number of measures, but not limited to lowering the mark-up for housing finance from 6 to 7 percent and instructions to all banks to earmark a substantial loan portfolio for this sector.
However, the same enthusiasm is not seen in Sindh for the uplift of the construction and housing industry and long pending issues are still lingering on one pretext or another by quarters concerned to name a few are as follows:
(i) Defreezing of frozen lands. No concrete action has been done on this issue, (ii) the exorbitant fees for regularisation of buildings in Karachi.
The fee should be at par with that offered to industrial building in Karachi, (iii) the non-availability of water and sewerage by KW&SB and the electricity by the KESC.
The Abad chief hoped that Shaukat Aziz, he is sworn in as the prime minister, will pay special attention to these issues, and advise the Sindh government to resolve the problems of the construction and housing industry on priority basis.