SBP steering committee discusses pilot projects

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Steering Committee on Housing and Construction Finance in its first meeting held on Tuesday discussed two initial pilot projects, one on the government land model and the other private sector builders’ model.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Reza Baqir formed a Steering Committee on Housing and Construction Finance last week to prepare and implement a roadmap to ensure sustainable market led financing of housing projects and mortgages in order to promote the development of housing and construction industry in the country.

The Committee constituted members including Naya Pakistan Housing & Development Authority (NAPHDA) chairman Lt-Gen Anwar Ali Haider (retd), SBP Deputy Governor Jameel Ahmad and presidents of Habib Bank Limited, National Bank, Meezan Bank, Faysal Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank Alfalah.

According to SBP, the first meeting of the committee, chaired by SBP governor was held on Tuesday to deliberate on the terms of reference (ToRs) of the committee and the way forward.

Speaking at the meeting, Reza Baqir deliberated that housing finance was a priority area for the central bank and reiterated that SBP will play a facilitative and supportive role for its promotion in the country.

Member banks expressed their eagerness to work with SBP and NAPHDA to promote financing the identified projects.

After detailed deliberations, chairman of the committee Dr Reza Baqir constituted sub-committees to work parallel on different work streams including developer finance, end-user housing finance, use of technology, development of capital market & long term yield curve, risk mitigation mechanism and removal of legal and regulatory hurdles in housing finance.

The steering committee members volunteered as lead and co-lead champions to discuss and identify solutions in respective areas for the consideration of the main committee.

During the meeting it was decided that the volunteering banks will hold meetings with Naya Pakistan Housing & Development Authority on the financing of government land model and developer finance during the current week and will present their reports in the next weekly meeting of the Steering Committee.