ISLAMABAD – Low Income Housing Programme gets first international contractworth millions of dollars in Pakistan.
In a ceremony held at the Pakistan Housing Conference, the PakistanMortgage Refinance Company Limited, in the presence of Prime Minister ImranKhan and officials of the World Bank Group, signed agreements andmemorandums of understanding worth Rs4.8 billion for low-income housefinancing.
These were signed with House Building Finance Company, Askari CommercialBank, First Woman Bank, BankIslami and Khushali Microfinance Bank.
During the conference, the prime minister told the audience that providingfive million houses in five years is indeed an ambitious target keeping inview the lack of necessary infrastructure and inefficient foreclosure lawsdue to which banks are reluctant to provide mortgage loans.
“However, the government is fully determined to meeting the existing demandof 10 million houses in the country for which it is working closely withState Bank of Pakistan and World Bank so as to resolve implementationchallenges,” he added.
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World Bank Country Director Illango Patchamuthu said on the occasion thatin Pakistan, it took around 25 years for an individual to own a housecompared with five years in the international market.
He further said that the World Bank had made available $140 million forhouse financing through PMRC. He lauded the performance of PMRC and assuredof further facilitation to meet the increasing demand.
