ISLAMABAD: Former President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Dr Shahid Rasheed Butt said in a statement on Sunday that continued hike in the price of construction material had not only damaged government and private projects but also increased house rents.
“The construction of houses has become costly, therefore, investors are seeking more rent which is contributing to inflation. The cost of construction material including cement, sand, steel, glass, wood, brick, stone, paint and hardware etc. continue to skyrocket after the construction package was announced,” he said.
The increased cost of construction had increased rents in the urban centers putting additional burden on masses which can become a crisis if not noticed by authorities, Butt said. The business leader said that presently the country was facing a shortage of ten million houses and every year the shortage in being increase by almost increased by four hundred thousand units.
He said that the government had given many relaxations to the builders and developers but they have not performed as expected as many of them were more focused on whitening of their black money.
“Govt has also offered interest rate subsidies to first-time homeowners on bank loans to encourage new investment in this important sector, the project has been slow to pick up which must be fixed,” he said.
He observed that despite the best efforts of the central bank, commercial banks were reluctant to provide loans for housing while the masses have been squeezed to an extent that they are compromising on health and education and cannot even dream of owning a house.