Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Build Asia 2010 with E-commerce gateway. The signing ceremony was held at ABAD house here on Thursday. In his keynote address, Engr Farooq-uz-Zaman, Chairman of ABAD, said that construction industry is a barometer of economy which directly affects the 42 other industries.
He said that ABAD has evolved a comprehensive strategy to address the issues. For the purpose, the association is going to organise a series of seminars on different topics to identify issues and their solutions. Seminar on finance is scheduled to be first in a row where national and international real estate businessmen would be participated; he said and added that ABAD would also organise a seminar on alternative energy to find the other means to meet energy requirements.
Farooq further said that ABAD is striving to contribute its role for the revival of the economy hence it would be the co-sponsor of Build Asia 2010. Meanwhile, Saleem Kassim Patel, Chairman South Region, ABAD said the industry constructs only 0.3 million houses with its full capacity, however, the annual demand houses is stood at 0.7 million houses, escalating the backlog of houses, which is presently reached to 8 million.
He further said the ratio of housing finance should be increased at substantial level to meet the backlog and added that seminars are aimed at creating awareness in this regard. Later, Khursheed Nizam, Chairman of E-commerce gateway discussed a comprehensive plan of action to produce fruitful results, saying that raw economy contributes 85 per cent of GDP, which should be facilitated for sustainable development.