Watertight laws needed for success of housing programme

ISLAMABAD: While the people not owning homes may be fascinated with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s mega housing programme to be implemented through the public-private partnership (PPP), two such arrangements introduced over the past few years collapsed as one was struck down by the Supreme Court due to a legal lacuna and the other could not take off owing to controversies.

Meanwhile, it is reliably learnt when the prime minister was giving final touches to his housing scheme, it was pointed out to him that a similar arrangement of the Shahbaz Sharif government has landed the then chief minister and two senior bureaucrats in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) custody. He was told that the move has sent a negative message to the bureaucracy through which his own programme is to be implemented. It was further pinpointed that the NAB proceedings would discourage the private sector to come forward for the instant scheme.

During a chat with The News, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Media Iftikhar Durrani confirmed that the premier was comprehensively briefed about the Ashiana scheme and the ongoing NAB actions against different persons for their role in this programme.

The aide said a group of professionals has prepared a roadmap for the present housing scheme. The government has formulated a housing authority which will provide one window services. The scheme launched will be demand driven and this is what makes it distinctive from other housing initiatives like Ashiana.

Sometime back, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) entered into a PPP agreement with a private housing society. Under the accord, the society was to retrieve CDA land in a strip of E-11 Sector from the illegal occupants and develop it. As part of the deal, the CDA was to get a certain percentage of developed plots.

The agreement was challenged in the Supreme Court, which knocked it down on the ground that the CDA Ordinance did not provide for the PPP.

In the wake of the judgement, the CDA had to pay to the society under the head of development charges that the latter had incurred. However, the civic body did not disburse anything on account of the society’s claim for giving a lot of money to the occupants to get the land vacated.

The second PPP agreement related to the Ashiana housing scheme of Punjab, which was first of its kind in Pakistan’s history at a larger scale. It remained just on papers and could not be translated into reality. Neither a single penny of the Punjab government was spent nor was a single inch of state land used.

However, the NAB alleges a massive corruption in the Ashiana scheme and has arrested the Shahbaz Sharif and his once close aides, including Fawad Hassan Fawad and Ahad Cheema. It is yet to file a reference against them.

According to informed officials, civil servants or private sector investor will be hesitant to engage in this high-risk venture, being undertaken by the prime minister, in view of the present NAB actions.

However, the keenness of the homeless people to have shelters at cheaper rates was witnessed a few hours after the launch of the current scheme when the National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra) website crashed for some time due to rush of people downloading the application forms.

Imran Khan’s programme to provide five millions houses in as many years can be game changer if the private sector response is as per the expectations and is given a tight legal cover.

The key foundation and feature of the programme is the PPP and housing finance by financial institutions. The government will offer land and facilitation, and the private sector will make investment and provide housing.

Public sector experts believe that the PPP arrangement and housing finance would be possible only after the government brings the necessary legislation to provide the legal basis. The government has announced to do the required legislation for the purpose. Currently, the federal government has no such legal framework. The Naya Pakistan Housing Authority announced by Imran Khan will also need a law.

A housing expert said that when the Shahbaz Sharif government initiated the Ashiana scheme and wanted to do it in the PPP mode, legal wizards advised it to first have for a legal framework as giving the state land to private sector is not allowed. Then the Punjab government legislated the PPP Act and amended it later to facilitate investment in the housing sector.

He said the financial institutions want effective laws on foreclosure and repossession in order to secure housing finance loans against mortgage of houses. Since no law presently exists to support housing finance, banks consider it a risky investment, he said.