ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Housing and Works (MoH&W) has requested authorization to ease the restrictions on building residential housing or hostel facilities for federal government employees.
According to sources, the Federal Cabinet’s ban on the construction of new housing on January 14, 1995, has caused a shortage of accommodations for federal employees. Since then, no new project has been started to build houses for federal government officials.
Furthermore, the restriction on new construction was put in place under the assumption that the federal government servants’ housing would be monetized. Although the number of Federal Government employees has increased significantly over the past 27 years, monetization of residential facilities was not implemented.
According to data, approximately 17,496 residential units are available and allotted, whereas nearly the same number of employees are listed on the general waiting lists.
Additionally, the land in Sectors G-6, G-7, and F-6, owned by the federal government has only one- or two-story quarters built in the 1960s and 1970s. At the same time, these structures need to be dismantled in stages since they are in bad shape and have long since reached the end of their usefulness.
In this regard, the Ministry of Housing and Works has made the following recommendations to the Secretaries Committee:
- Renovating existing government residences
- Removing the monetization policy on building new residences or hostels for federal employees
- Establishing the Urban Regeneration, Human Settlement, and Social Housing Board under the Ministry of Housing and Works by bringing “the Right to Shelter Act, 2022” before the legislature
The Ministry of Housing and Works also clarified that it would not ask the government for money, and all renewal costs would be covered by various commercialization strategies.
