ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Housing and Works has set up a laboratory at the site of low-cost housing project of Alipur Frash for the government employees to test the quality of construction material.

“The laboratory will not only help testing the material used in construction work, but also save time of the labourers working on the site, an official in the Ministry of Housing and Works told APP.

He said the excavation work for over 27 blocks has been carried out and the raft was prepared in three blocks while a steel cage for columns was developed for 16 blocks to be established.

He said under the project a total of 2,400 flats were being constructed, out of which 400 flats were reserved for rehabilitating dwellers of Katchi Abadis (slum areas) of the federal capital.

The official said that currently around 1,000 workers were deployed on the project site and the workforce would be increased from 3,000 to 5,000 in coming days to expedite work on the project.

The ministry was also taking various steps to facilitate low income people of the country by restarting stalled schemes, constructing new apartments worth Rs109 billion, he added.

The official said the ministry revived multiple stalled projects including Kurri Road Islamabad, Wafaqi Colony Lahore, G-10/2 Islamabad, I-16/3 Islamabad and I-12/1 Islamabad.

The stalled projects have been put on track and completed by the Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA), however, the work on I/16-3 and I/12-1 projects were in progress, he added.

Regarding the initiatives taken in Balochistan, he said Kuchlak Road Quetta project was consisted of 1,350 housing units, which was inaugurated in 2019 on the land provided by Government of Balochistan.

The official said the membership drive was executed and over 7,700 applications were received and automated balloting was also held successfully. The PC-I has been approved from Development Working Party (DWP) and endorsed by the PHA-F’s Board of Directors.

Regarding initiatives taken in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PHA Residencia Sorazai Project, Peshawar, he said land measuring 8500 kanal was provided by Government of KHYBR Pakhtunkhwa and in first phase, PHA-F would construct 10,000 housing units.

He said Minister for Housing and Works Maulana Wasay had already directed all the affiliated and registered contractors to accelerate the pace of different ongoing housing projects to provide modern residential facilities to government employees in the shortest possible time.