Behind time: No progress on PM’s housing scheme

[Salman]

Behind time: No progress on PM’s housing scheme


ISLAMABAD: Work on the government’s housing schemes has been stalled for a few months as the Ministry of Housing and Works has been busy with bureaucratic reshuffles.
Five out of the top six bureaucrats in the ministry are working on acting charge appointments.
Ministry officials says no headway has been made on government housing plans ever since JUI-F’s Akram Khan Durrani replaced Usman Ibrahim as the minister on June 26. They said Ibrahim would keep changing secretaries on a whim.
Apna Ghar scheme
Announced by the prime minister in October last year, the plan entails building 500,000 houses in five years. A steering committee approved five-marla and three-marla models in December 2013. The government has also allocated Rs60 billion for the project in the current budget.
In June this year, Prime Minister’s Youth Programme (PMYP) chief Maryam Nawaz Sharif reprimanded the secretary after learning no substantial headway had been made in the low-income housing scheme.
Besides, 588 housing units are also being developed on Kurri Road under Pakistan Housing Authority Foundation (PHAF). The project was started in March 2012 to complete in 18 months but the ministry has yet to settle the issues between contractor and the department.
Construction of over 3,200 residential plots of Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) at Bhara Kahu is also in doldrums since 2009.
According to an official at FGEHF, the project for which around 3,100 kanals were acquired and transferred to the department’s name was stopped due to litigation concerning payment to the contractor.
The new minister says “no further delay will be tolerated.” Durrani said the government will make all out efforts to provide housing facilities to masses.
The picture within the ministry, however, does not back the minister’s claims. Five secretaries have arrived and left the ministry in a year. An official said Ibrahim was known to get into the nitty-gritty of every file work.
It was the current secretary Younus Dhagha who told PMYP chairperson that no tangible development had been made in the scheme owing to the administrative and logistical issues. Ibrahim, who did not attend the meeting, said that the secretary has misled the PMYP chair about progress on prime minister’s housing scheme. Ibrahim was soon transferred to another division.
Headless departments
A number of departments of the ministry are without permanent heads for years. National Housing Authority and Pakistan Works Department are without directors general, the latter since 2009.
Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation Director General Waqas Ali is a grade-19 officer but also holds acting charge of joint secretary (grade 20).
The office of the Estate Office Management is also being run by a section officer for the last two months. Pakistan Housing Authority chief Shahrukh Nusrat was appointed recently.
Ministry spokesperson Saba Asghar said the minister was keen to address the pending issues at the ministry. “A presentation on the prime minister’s housing scheme is being prepared for the minister and soon things will be on right track,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2014