Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: At least 250,000 job opportunities have been created in the country under the Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (NAPHDA) programme. Prime Minister Imran Khan said this on Thursday.

The prime minister said this while chairing a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC). He discussed housing, construction and development to review the progress made on existing and new projects.

During the meeting, PM Imran Khan stressed that cadastral mapping is important to eliminate encroachments and enhance land revenues and contended that the provinces should expedite legislation to stop land-use changes and protect green spaces.

While taking a briefing from Surveyor General of Pakistan Maj-Gen Shahid Pervez, the premier remarked that cadastral mapping will help in the development of an authentic land record database. It will also help in clearly identifying the demarcation of land that would eliminate illegal encroachments.

Moreover, he pointed out that an authentic database would also contribute towards enhancing revenues received from lands. The PM said: “Land-use changes need to be checked where green vegetation areas are being converted into construction projects”.

He called on all provincial and AJK governments to expedite legislation to put a stop to land-use changes. He said protection of green spaces and agricultural lands is essential for environmental considerations and to safeguard food security.

However, construction projects will be allowed under regulations, he noted.

The NCC meeting was briefed that under phase-I of the mapping exercise. 90% digitalisation of state lands had been completed in Punjab, 96% in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and 50% in Balochistan.

The CDA chairman said that with the help of cadastral maps, the CDA had started imposing fines on encroachers. And the amount collected was being used for compensation of the masses defrauded by illegal housing societies.