LAHORE: The Punjab government has disbursed more than Rs243 billion in interest-free loans under the Apni Chhat Apna Ghar programme in a short period, and has doubled the targets for loan provision in the current financial year following a record number of applications.
An important meeting on the provision of interest-free loans was chaired by Provincial Housing Minister Bilal Yasin, attended by Director General PHATA Sikandar Zeeshan, Chief Executive Officer of the Urban Unit Umar Masood, and representatives of the Bank of Punjab and other relevant institutions.
During the meeting, representatives of the Bank of Punjab and other institutions gave a detailed briefing on the provision of interest-free loans. The Housing Minister also directed the immediate release of pending payments under the Apni Chhat Apna Ghar programme.
The briefing was told that the number of approved loans under the programme has crossed 200,000. So far, 114,237 houses have been completed, while construction work is under way on 45,254 houses.
Provincial Housing Minister Bilal Yasin said the fundamental purpose of the Apni Chhat Apna Ghar programme is to provide deserving families with a dignified, secure roof of their own. Immediate action will be taken, he said, on complaints of unnecessary delay in the provision of loans.
Bilal Yasin directed the relevant authorities to further accelerate the process of redressing citizens’ complaints, and instructed the Punjab Information Technology Board to ensure effective coordination with all stakeholders in this regard.
He added that in view of the record number of applications, the targets for loan provision have been doubled during the current financial year so that the maximum number of deserving families can realise the dream of owning a roof.
Apni Chhat Apna Ghar provides interest-free financing to low-income households for the construction of a house on land the applicant already owns. That last condition is the defining feature of the scheme and the source of both its strengths and its limits.
Because the applicant supplies the plot, the loan finances construction rather than acquisition, which brings the ticket size down substantially and removes the most contentious element of subsidised housing — land allocation. It also means disbursement can be staged against construction milestones, which is why the figures distinguish between houses completed and houses under construction.
The limitation follows directly. The scheme reaches households that own land but cannot afford to build. It does not reach the urban poor who own no land at all — tenants, katchi abadi residents and informal settlers — who are the group with the most acute housing need in Lahore. A programme with 114,237 completed homes is a substantial achievement; it is not a solution to urban homelessness, and it should not be presented as one.
Three questions determine whether the doubled target is realistic. The first is fiscal: interest-free lending at this scale requires the province to bear the cost of the subsidy, and doubling the target doubles that carry. The second is disbursement capacity at the Bank of Punjab, which the minister’s own direction on pending payments suggests is already under strain. The third is recovery — repayment performance on the first tranche of loans has not been published, and it is the number that will determine whether the programme is revolving or simply spending.
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