A major setback to Imran Khan's much-trumpeted plan to provide homes to the homeless, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Pakistan's parliament informed on Thursday that contractors stopped working on all government-funded housing projects months ago due to cost escalation.
Citing a sharp increase in the prices of cement and steel since August of last year, Housing Secretary Dr Imran Zeb informed the PAC that the work on housing schemes that commenced during the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government had stopped, The Dawn reported.
Zeb said that in August 2021 the cost of steel "phenomenally" increased from Rs 140,000 per tonne to Rs 210,000, adding that during the same period the price of cement also saw an extraordinary rise.
As a result, the contractors demanded a revision in the costs. However, since the escalated charges were much higher than the benchmark the housing ministry turned down their demand.
"The Planning Commission is currently working on how the ministry can pay the cost escalation difference to the contractors," the Housing Secretary informed.
PAC chairman Rana Tanveer Hussain expressed displeasure over the progress on housing projects and maintained that contracts should have been terminated and those who had stopped the construction work blacklisted, the report said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan last month had paid a surprise visit to the housing authority's Kashmir Avenue Apartments project in Islamabad's G-13 area and found no one present there. The project director was then called to brief Khan.
This comes amidst massive anger against the Imran Khan regime over misgovernance, high inflation and the non-stop rounds of loans that Pakistan has become reliant on.
In an address to the nation on Monday, Khan announced a number of relief measures including a reduction in the fuel prices by Rs 10 and electricity tariffs by Rs 5 to calm the public mood against his government.
The Opposition leaders in the country credited their pressure tactics for the relief measures, with Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari saying that the Prime Minister's decision was a result of PPP's 'long march' and no-trust motion to oust the government.
( With inputs from ANI )
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