Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill has said the government has introduced mortgage financing facility to enable people to build and own affordable houses.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Friday, Gill said the present government has created an enabling environment for the promotion of the housing sector in the country.

Shahbaz Gill informed that a peri-urban housing scheme is being launched in Punjab from next month. In the first phase, this scheme will be executed on the land of three thousand Kanal in twenty-six tehsils of the province.

He said under this project, houses will be provided to the low-income groups in easy installments. The total cost of a house in this housing scheme will be 1.4 million rupees.

Shahbaz Gill said the peri-urban housing project will be expanded to all tehsils of Punjab.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday asked governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr. Reza Baqir to ensure that Rs 380 billion allocated by the commercial banks for a mortgage of houses is easily available to the applicants. The prime minister said that the government is also providing a Rs 300,000 subsidy and would make sure that the 5 percent interest rate on the mortgage is fixed for 20 years.

Meanwhile, Gill said that work on another housing project will also be started in Farash Town, Islamabad next month. He said four thousand apartments will be built in it and each apartment will cost 2.7 million rupees. He said the journalists will also be given apartments in this housing scheme which is meant for low-income groups.