Naya Pakistan housing project- less than one percent promised housing units delivered so far

Only 17,000 housing units completed under Naya Pakistan Housing Authority in 44 months of PTI government out of 5 million promised houses

The much talked about flagship project of former PTI government Naya Pakistan Housing Program has proved to be a big failure. The former PTI government promised to deliver 5 million low cost housing units in five years. The former Prime Minister Imran Khan announced amnesty and incentives for construction sector to build more houses in the country.

The Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (NAPHDA) failed to deliver a single housing unit under that government housing initiative. Only 17,000 housing units have so far been delivered across the country under the Naya Pakistan housing initiative of the previous government. The number of housing units delivered so far is not even one percent of what was promised by the former government,  five million housing units. However, a reputed NGO Akhuwat Foundation, which was partially assigned the job, has so far delivered 17,000 housing units to the needy ones till now.  

But NAPHDA spokesperson told the media that “the projects in Lahore, Sargodha and Islamabad are being efficiently followed. Balloting for housing units in Farash town in Islamabad is also done and the list is being given to the local government department for handing over of the apartments to its clients.”

 The apartments, made with the collaboration of Workers Welfare Fund (WWF), are around 3,000 and are also ready but a case related to the project is ongoing in the court and once it is closed, they will also be handed over to the deserving ones, said the NAPHDA spokesperson. 

Approximately, around 59,000 housing units are under construction in different parts of the country, out of which almost 20,000 housing units have been completed so far, data shared by the spokesperson of NAPHDA revealed.

Out of these 20,000, over 17,000 housing units are constructed by Akhuwat and around 3,000 by Workers Welfare Fund, while none are delivered by the NAPHDA and local government departments till now.

Briefing about the projects being done with the help of local government departments in different cities, the NAPHDA spokesperson said that the construction work is progressive in all the areas and the contractors and builders take time which is usual and the apartments are expected to be delivered to its clients by the start of next year, 2023.

In Zone-V of Islamabad, 1,508 units have been constructed and in Regi Lalma Housing scheme, 2,056 units have been constructed, the NAPHDA spokesperson said, maintaining that the units have not yet being delivered to the poor, because a case was ongoing related to it in the court. 

It was further told that different local authorities are presently constructing over 30,000 housing units, which are expected to be delivered early next year such as in Sargodha, Lahore and Islamabad. Further, around 4,500 low-cost housing units are being constructed on the peri-urban areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

The cost of these 59,000 housing units, which are under construction, is almost around Rs140 billion, according to the data. The 17,000 housing units, made by Akhuwat Foundation, cost around Rs8 billion. The construction on private lands carried out by the NAPHDA (6933 HUs) across Pakistan cost around Rs17.5 billion. The housing units on peri-urban areas, which are around 5,000, cost around Rs8 billion, whereas, the rest, which are made by the local government development authorities, such as the Capital Development Authority and Lahore Development Authority, cost around Rs105 billion.

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