Engr. Farooq-uz-Zaman Khan, chairman of Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (Abad) has lauded the efforts of HBFC to recover Rs 3.5 billion in 2009. In a statement issued here on Thursday, he urged the corporation to show same progress in the disbursement of loans to facilitate the construction industry at maximum.
He said the HBFC has failed to provide financial assistance for the construction of houses and flats and has disbursed only Rs 700 million against the recovery of Rs 3.5 billion, which is just 17 percent of the total disbursement made in 2008. He said the Housing Project Zone (HPZ) of HBFC is imperative to cater the housing finance needs of lower and middle-income groups but HPZ has disbursed only Rs 25 million in 2009.
Despite having remarkable recoveries, the HPZ, which dealt some 800 to 1000 new accounts in past, has minimised its operation to only 40 to 50 cases in last year, he informed. The operational and administrative expenses of HBFC are more than the total disbursement of loans. In this grave situation the question arises whether HBFC would be able to keep it existence? If the corporation fails in this regard, the lower income group would have a bleak future as HBFC is the only financial institution, which provides long-term housing finance facility to the public through HPZ, he maintained.-PR