Islamabad: Minister for Housing and Works Tariq Bashir Cheema will table the Naya Pakistan Housing Authority (NPHA) Ordinance, 2019, during a session of the National Assembly scheduled for today (July 29) – a news source reported.
Previously, President Arif Alvi had promulgated three ordinances for the development of affordable housing schemes in the country. The first two ordinances called for the establishment of the NPHA and the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA), while the third ordinance resolved loopholes in existing foreclosure laws, encouraging banks to provide housing finance.
Under the Clause 2 of Article 89 of the Constitution of Pakistan, an ordinance has to be presented before parliament within 240 days and approved by at least one house of the parliament before it can be extended for another 120 days.
The purpose of establishing NPHA is to avoid dependence on other development authorities with regard to taking up the land-acquisition process for the NPHP project. The ordinance will allow the authority to acquire land of its own volition, without the previous requirement of seeking prior approval from the executive on this front.
While the NPHA will oversee the execution of affordable housing projects for the general public, the FGEHA (formerly known as the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation) will primarily deal with the provision of low-cost housing facilities for the government employees. For this purpose, the foundation has been turned into an authority to facilitate the officials concerned tasked with undertaking the land-acquisition process.
