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Government may restart 18 housing projects

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Out of 42 housing projects, which were started by the Pakistan Housing Authority, only 18 projects may be restarted by the government, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said during a meeting with All Pakistan Contractors Association delegation here on Tuesday.

Only those projects will be revived which the government will consider as priority projects, minister said. The delegation apparently agreed to the minister in principle that only those housing projects should be revived, which are beneficial to the general public, but after coming out of his offices the members of the delegation were found shouting at each other for not considering the mutual interest of the association.

So far the contractors have spent Rs 700 million on various housing projects, the delegation told the minister.

Those members of the association, whose projects are likely to be axed, decided to go further on with their struggle with the government for the revival of all 42 projects. The projects include former prime minister's Mera Ghar scheme. Construction industry consumes almost 80 percent is national development budget.

The APCA had asked the finance minister to restart all the 42 projects with the seed money of Rs 1 billion promised by the Chief Executive.

They told the minister that the various projects basic spade work has already been started, which involves million of rupees and if the projects are not restarted, the loss of revenue to the government and the contractors will be reflected in other sectors of economy.