PM reveals construction industry package, announces subsidy for NPHP developments

Islamabad: Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Friday approved a major incentive package for the construction sector — with the initiative also containing a PKR 30 billion subsidy for the government’s flagship ‘Naya Pakistan Housing Programme (NPHP)’, according to news sources.

Read: Budget 2020-21: Relief measures announced for real estate, construction sectors

He revealed this while addressing the nation after chairing the first meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Housing, Construction and Development.

Moreover, Khan also revealed that the government has come to an arrangement with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other commercial banks, and asked them to allocate 5% (which amounts to PKR 330 billion) of their portfolios for housing finance.

Th prime minister said that government is offering a subsidy of PKR 300,000 for construction of each house – which means that a subsidy of PKR 0.3 million will be offered to the first 100,000 houses (each). The people who take loans from banks to construct their homes will be paying a subsidised interest rate — 5% for five-marla house and 7% for 10-marla house.

Read: Punjab issues notification specifying processing time for housing, construction sectors

The premier said that after consulting with the provinces, the government has decided to decrease the number of required NOCs (no-objection certificates) and set up one-window operations in all provinces to facilitate the public. He said that the timelines for approvals by the relevant authorities will also be decided.

Furthermore, Khan said that owing to the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, the federal government has gotten a respite from its international obligation until December 31 this year. He revealed that the people who are investing in the construction sector will not be bound to reveal their income sources and urged the people to avail this opportunity.