Pakistan to construct 500,000 houses to meet shortfall

Pakistan will build 5,00,000 housing units in the next five years to overcome a housing shortfall, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said today.
Sharif said this during a meeting with a Turkish Housing Authority delegation led by Erdogan Bayraktar, Minister for Environment and Urbanisation.
Sharif said his government could use the lessons learnt from Turkey's Mass Housing Program to provide low cost housing for poor families.
The Prime Minister was briefed on how Turkey has devised a revenue sharing model, wherein 15 per cent of their housing stock is diverted to generate revenue and the remaining 85 percent is used to provide social housing.

The social housing scheme comprises of two main components. At first the land is provided by the government and then a flexible payment schedule is offered to provide affordable housing.
"We will study the financial model and visit on ground the housing schemes developed in rural and urban areas in Turkey during my forthcoming visit," said Sharif.
The previous government led by Sharif, which was dismissed in 1997, had introduced 'Mera Ghar' scheme to provide affordable housing to lower and lower middle class families.
The new plan seeks to revive the old plan and could could boost over 50 construction companies in the country. Pakistan faces a shortage of over five million residential units.