Islamabad: The Ministry of Housing and Works is on its way to make all possible efforts to complete at the earliest the Alipur Frash Low-Cost Housing Project. The project is launched under the Prime Minister’s initiative for the low-income segment of the society. The project executed under the Naya Pakistan Housing Development Authority consists of 2,400 flats out of which 400 flats are being constructed for the rehabilitation of dwellers of Kachi Abadis in the capital city. A couple of months backThe Premier himself visited the site of the project and directed the officials of the Ministry of Housing and Works to speed up the pace of development activities.
As per details shared with the newsmen by an official of the Ministry of Housing and Works, the construction work in 26 blocks has been completed and the work on two blocks is in the final stage whereas a steel cage for columns of 16 blocks has been carried out. The Ministry official further added that in order to speed up the pace of development activities the authorities have decided to increase the number of workers from 1000 to 3000 and later the number would be further raised to 4000. The increase in the number of workers, the official told would not only ensure the speedy completion of the project but also create job opportunities for the poor.
The official of the ministry told that the Alipur Frash Project was initially launched by the ministry a couple of decades back to provide alternate accommodation to the slum dwellers particularly the residents of the slums of I-9, I-10, and I-11. But neither the government expedited the work nor the slum dwellers showed any interest in the construction work at Alipur Farash and hence the project failed. The Incumbent administration of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has revived the construction activities in the stalled housing projects particularly at G-10, I-16, I-12, Wafaqi Colony Lahore, and Kurri Road Islamabad.
Last year the CDA had approved PC-1 of the project worth 15bn to construct 4000 flats to Alipur Frash in three years' time. The project was to be completed in three phases. The first phase included the construction of 1560 flats. The second phase included the 400 flats for the dwellers of slums in federal capitals and 2000 Flats to be constructed for low-income groups with the collaboration of the NPHDA under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan. In November last year, the PM Visited The Site Of the Low-Cost Housing Project and reviewed the progress of the work. The PM directed the concerned authorities to complete the project on an urgent basis. The 2400 flats out of a total of 4000 are being constructed by CDA in collaboration with NPHDA. The Frontier Work Organization (FWO) is executing the project.
