Govt halts housing scheme for homeless following rise in steel, cement prices

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The Ministry of Housing and Works (MoHW) said that the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) has halted the construction work on the current projects because of an extraordinary increase in construction material prices.

This was unveiled during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works conducted on Monday at the Parliament Lodges.

The sources revealed that the price adjustment included in the contract according to the Pakistan Engineering Council’s (PEC) standard price adjustment rules did not cover the ongoing rise in prices of construction materials.

The meeting was briefed that the ministry was doing all in its power to come to an agreeable resolution and has submitted a summary of the issues to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for the approval of suggestions.

Moreover, the committee was further told that another obstacle that has played a central role in stalling projects relates to land acquisition disputes.

Members of the committee, according to the sources, took strong notice of slow progress and emphasized the need for rate analysis. The committee highlighted that halting the work was illegal, and the ministry must ponder on this issue accordingly and a sub-committee must be formed to review the problem in greater detail.

While discussing every detail of Pakistan Public Works Department (PWD) funds consumed for Malakand Division in the last 15 years, the committee showed concern as regards documentation and ordered the ministry to provide all relevant information about the whole province in the next meeting.

In addition, the committee also deliberated upon the details of projects of the MoHW in Sindh and recommended that assigned funds for the province must be reviewed.

It is pertinent to mention that a number of FGEHA projects in Islamabad are under construction, some of them are as follows:

  • PHASE VI (Barakahu Housing Scheme & namely ‘Green Enclave’)
  • PHASE VII (F-14/15)
  • PHASE VIII (Lifestyle Residency Project)
  • PHASE IX (Thalian Housing Scheme) located on Thalian Interchange Motorway
  • PHASE X (Park Road Housing Scheme)