‘Efforts on to ensure affordable housing for low-income individuals’

LAHORE:Punjab Finance Minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman has said that the scope of the Social Protection Authority will be expanded to eradicate poverty and ensure social welfare in the province.

To ensure access and transparency in social welfare projects, a provincial-level socio-economic registry system will be introduced. In this regard, initial steps will involve the exchange of information between the national social and economic registry and the provincial socio-economic registry.

Under the directives of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, a formal policy is being devised for the establishment of Working Women Hostels to provide protection to women employed away from home. These views were expressed by the finance Minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman during the third session of the Cabinet Standing Committee for Legislation and Private Business at the Punjab Civil Secretariat Wednesday.

Efforts are underway to ensure the availability of affordable housing in urban and rural areas for low-income individuals. Measures are being taken to establish waste management companies in various cities and provide sanitation facilities at the rural level, he added. The Punjab government is committed to enhancing the province's economic development by increasing resources at the provincial level, the minister said.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Local Government and relevant secretaries. The agenda of the meeting included fourteen points, among which were the exchange of information between the Punjab government and the national economic registry, implementation of a scheme for the provision of affordable housing to low-income individuals in peri-urban areas, re-evaluation of laws pertaining to schemes for low-cost housing in private sector under PHATA, Working Women Hostels, Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965, Punjab Drugs Rules 2007's Rule No. 19, amendments in Section 39 of Punjab Revenue Authority Act 2012 and approval of the Punjab Skills Development Policy, 2021. The Cabinet approved verified agendas from various departments, directing the Women Development Department to ensure necessary amendments in the Working Women Hostel policy. Rules and regulations will be established for private sector hospitals in the policy. Additionally, services and security concerns of the private sectors regarding the increase in the number of hospitals will be ensured.

The matter of the distribution of constructed affordable houses in peri-urban areas will be discussed in the next Cabinet meeting. Furthermore, the approval was given for the nomination of two technical experts in the Ravi Urban Development Authority.