ISLAMABAD: Speakers have called on executing projects that have a minimal impact on environment and provide maximum affordability to people.

Speaking at a roundtable titled ‘Resilient and Sustainable Housing for All: Delivering for People and Planet’, the participants highlighted opportunities available in the construction sector, ranging from building machinery to construction material and project planning.

The event was hosted by the Sustainable Housing Ecosystems (SHE), which is a joint consortium of three companies – Altair, AMC and Trellis.

According to the organisers, Altair, a UK-based organisation, provides high quality, creative solutions to the varied and dynamic challenges facing organisations in housing, the AMC has developed sustainable and affordable housing projects across various cities of Pakistan while Trellis Housing Finance Limited extends Shariah compliant housing finance to people who are traditionally not catered by the current financial institutions in the country.

The speakers said the government had a major role to play in resolving issues of affordable housing, demanding that people should be given maximum relaxation in acquiring loans at low interest rate to construct houses.

Housing Secretary Iftikhar Ali Shallwani said the housing sector had become the main attraction for investors, but at the same time was leading to mushroom growth of unplanned construction.

Talking about the ‘Green House’ concept, Mr Shallwani said before launching such projects in Pakistan, there was a need to educate people about the concept and benefit of the initiative.

Federal Government Employees Housing Authority Director Rizwanur Rehman said although the ‘Green House’ concept was a positive step, the ground realities were different.

The director, however, supported the ‘Green House’ concept, saying that there was a need to change the mindset.

Altair Director Emma Ahmed stressed the need for sustainable development, stating that, “we have the capability within Pakistan to deliver sustainable housing because we have already delivered a successful proof of the concept”.

CEO of AMC Jawad Aslam was of a similar opinion. He pointed out the need for affordability as a key driver within the sector, adding that the consortium was planning to bring an investment of $50 million in the housing sector in the next three years.

Trellis CEO Jamshed Meherhomji spoke about less finance opportunities in the housing sector, adding that besides the government the private sector should come forward and provide adequate investments and credit facilities on viable terms.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2022