Islamabad: According to a news source, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has assured the government’s support for the development of the housing sector.
Shaikh was chairing a meeting in Islamabad where an analysis of the various fiscal models proposed for the Naya Pakistan Economic Zone (alongside the Islamabad Expressway) was under deliberation.
He said that the sector had the potential for creating new employment opportunities for the country’s youth, and offered assistance for any legally formulated financial scheme presented to him.
Naya Pakistan Housing Association Chairman Lieutenant General (r) Ameer Ali Haider addressed the meeting to elaborate on the overall details of the project. He said that the scheme would be divided into 3-4 phases, the first one of which will begin from Faizabad and end near Rawat. Furthermore, he stated that the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) was working alongside the Naya Pakistan Housing Association (NPHA) under a public-private partnership arrangement to determine the project’s feasibility – and to have the first phase completed within the year.
During the session, many different financial models were examined for the project in consultation with the State Bank of Pakistan and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
The advisor called for another meeting with the stakeholders concerned in the going week to analyse NPHA’s financial plans for this project. Shaikh stressed the need to incentivise the real estate industry, so that it could generate increased investments from overseas Pakistanis.
