ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that national struggles were never in a straight line and they were always defined by ups and downs, ARY News reported.
He was addressing the launching ceremony of the Naya Pakistan Housing scheme, a project to construct five million housing units across the country in the next five years, here in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the difficult times were meant to make the nations even stronger. “Ups and downs have defined my whole life; times like these uplift nations and strengthens them”, he said.
Highlighting the salient features of the program, PM Khan said the government was building 100,000 houses in Balochistan and 6,000 housing units in Azad and Jammu Kashmir.
The first phase will see the construction of 135,000 houses across the country and five million low-cost houses in the next five years.
The prime minister said investors from different countries were now taking interest in Pakistan and several countries had reached out to government, expressing their desire to contribute in the low-cost housing project.
PM Khan said he would continue inaugurating housing schemes in different cities. He underlined that state policies were formed to eradicate poverty from the grass root level.
He said a particular group with vested interests at its forefront was a major obstacle in ‘Tabdeeli’ that the government had been trying to trigger.
Read also: China Silk Road Group offers affordable solution for PM’s low cost housing
‘Those taking mileage from the previous system come up with strong resistance whenever we bring about reforms’ said the prime minister.
He said anyone raising hue and cry was the ones who became billionaires through the previous system of governance. Imran Khan said the country’s debt rose to $30 billion from $6 billion in the last ten years.
He stated that population control in the country had become inevitable.
The premier said 40 per cent population of Karachi resided in slums and slammed that none of the past rulers enacted a policy about slum dwellers.
“We have been in power for just eight to nine months, and it’s being said [by the opposition] that the government has failed.”
Earlier in his address, Finance Minister Asad Umar said the launching of housing scheme would also add to the progress of 40 other industries.
He said ample employment opportunities would be created in the wake of the housing scheme. Umar said the government would also ease the loan process for the low-income housing scheme.
Director General Housing Scheme, in his address, said the housing foundation had so far provided housing units to 23,000 government employees.
While secretary housing foundation said financial problems and a legal framework were main obstacles in the scheme, which had now been resolved.
