DHA Lahore Pakistan Bahria Town Map Plots For Sale Property Prices

KARACHI: Leading economists have criticised President Asif Ali Zardari’s proposal of levying flood tax on property, saying that the government would lose credibility if it resorted to such measures.
“Foreign missions are donating to private social work organisations for helping flood victims instead of giving aid directly to the government,” said former advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Salman Shah.
This has forced the government to generate funds from local resources and proposal of imposing flood tax on property may be a part of it, he added.
In a meeting with Sindh’s government on Sunday, President Asif Ali Zardari proposed flood tax on both residential and agriculture land, directing the provincial government to generate one billion dollars through the levy.
Dr Shah said the government has set-up no agenda to spend the money on flood victims and rehabilitation work. “People would resist the initiative when the government has no plan for it,” he added.
He suggested the government should announce specific sectors where tax collection should be used. The proposed property tax would be for one-time only: Rs200,000 on a piece of residential land of 2,000 square yards, Rs100,000 on 1,000 square yards and Rs50,000 on 500 square yards.
Another economist said the measure would be an added burden on taxpayers who are already facing a deteriorating economy that has shrunk their earnings and enhanced inflationary pressure. “The government should not impose any tax that is passed on to consumers,” said Dr Ikramul Haq, a leading tax consultant.
He suggested that the government should consider levying a transitional tax. A small amount should be charged on transactions of property, motor vehicle purchase, etc. Asad Saeed, an economist, commented that there was nothing wrong in implementing property tax meant to help flood victims. “Collection should be
made equitable and all land-owners brought under the proposed tax net,” he said. He said the proposed tax would not have a negative effect on taxpayers. “Taxpayers only suffer from the production tax.”
The government is considering various measures to generate funds to help flood victims and rehabilitate economic life in affected areas. The government is also considering levying a flood surcharge on income tax at the rate of 10 percent for a period of one year.

Sibghatullah Virk
Federal Government Employee Housing Foundation collected billions of rupees from government employees in the name of a housing scheme in Bahara Kahoo and the collected capital remained in the Foundation’s account but applicants find no way to get reward of their heavy payments made to the FGEHF a year before.

Federal Government Employee Housing Scheme finds no place even after one year of its inception and project gets no exposure to the public while poor applicants very rightly question the scope of their payments made to the Foundation.

The housing scheme in the vicinity of the federal capital near Barra Kehoo was started in August 2009 for federal government’s employees and had been charged Rs 50,000 each. Billions of rupees were collected but remained with the Foundation while the matter has been lying pending with different institutions simultaneously.

National Assembly’s Standing Committee for Housing and Works claims that the land had been acquired at desired rates whereas the federal minister claims that the procedure had been transparent and the land had been acquired at market rates.

The story does not finish here as it moves ahead with a new twist since Capital Development Authority did not issue no-objection certificate to the Foundation to move forward. The process had been started in hurry without fulfilling basic formalities but applicants had been called and money received from them as a result of which the poor employees seem to be very disappointed. The project is one of the delayed projects while a few were launched 18 years ago. For example, Phase-II Islamabad (Sectors D-12, E-12, I-8 and G-11) was launched in 1992, Phase-III Islamabad (Sector G-13 & Sub Sector G-14/4) in 1996, Phase-IV Islamabad (Sub-Sectors G-14/1,2,3 & G-15/3,4) on 16th December 2003 and Phase-V Islamabad (Housing Scheme for Low Paid FG Employees in Sub-sectors G-11/3, 4) was launched in April 2005.

Similar is the case with the projects in other cities as FGE Housing Scheme at Regi Lalma Peshawer was launched in 1995 and Phase-I Karachi in 1992 whereas Phase-II Karachi was launched in 1999. “Who will be responsible for this delay as our money is losing worth with every hour passing and we don’t know about the future of our payments since there is no ray of hope in the near future,” said one of the applicants. If foundation gets NOC from CDA and allotment starts who would be able to pay heavy development charges which have been increasing day by day and how a government worker, who gets 2 or 3 millions as his life asset in the form of pension at the time of his or her retirement will manage to pay more than his complete assets, he added.

It is worth mentioning that the project finds no space on the Foundation’s web portal and nothing is disseminated by the officials for the applicants regarding the project. This makes the condition more troublesome as poor government employees find no news about his precious amount lying with the Foundation’s account. A source told this correspondent that the sites will be allotted on first-come-first-served basis which again will curtail merit since a junior guy can get his place and a senior old employee could lose the very chance of finding a small piece to live on in the feeble part of his life.

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to utilise Rs 250 million received from the federal government out of the Zakat fund for the construction of low-cost houses in the flood-affected areas of the province.

The decision was taken at a meeting of Sindh Zakat and Ushr Department (SZUD) chaired by Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Qaim Ali Shah at the Chief Minister’s House on Friday.

The federal government has provided Rs 250 million to the Sindh SZUD for relief measures.

It was proposed in the meeting to build 1,000 to 2,000 houses in the eight most-affected districts.

It was envisaged that the process was long term for which a comprehensive strategy would be evolved, and the required funds would be spent in a judicious and transparent manner.

It was decided that besides government officers, elected representatives, retired senior judges and members of opposition parties would also be included in the committees to be formed in this regard.

The meeting was attended by Sindh Zakat Minister Muhammad Sajid Jokhio, Sindh Zakat Council Chairman Justice Zahid Qurban Alvi, Zakat department secretary Ahsan Iqbal Zaidi and others.

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Housing and Works and chairman Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA), Rehmatullah Kakar said Prime Minister’s housing policy would help to develop a modern community living with all the comforts. During his visit to House Building Finance Corporation Limited (HBFCL) Wednesday, Chairman and CEO HBFCL, Azhar Abbas Jaffri briefed him about the efforts being made in this direction. He said HBFCL in principle has agreed with leading developers, NGO’s and builders for developing low-cost housing projects across the country. staff rpeort