KARACHI: The President and CEO of National Bank of Pakistan, Saeed Ahmad,
reaffirmed the commitment of NBP to grow and develop housing sector financing in Pakistan.
He was speaking at the signing ceremony of the Shareholders’ Agreement of “Pakistan Mortgage Refinance Company” (PMRC), at a local hotel in Karachi, on Saturday.
In his speech, Ahmad said that the lack of proper housing for low-income citizens
may lead to serious social, economic, and law and order issues. Of a shortage of 10 million housing units in the country, 80 to 90 per cent is estimated to be for lower income groups, and affordable housing was, therefore, a critical need.
He recalled an incident when he was on a road journey in the interior of the country, when he stopped by the side of the road and spoke to a family which was living in shanties (“katchi abadi”). In the conversation, the head of the family said that he worked on housing construction sites but could not afford to build a house for his family. The irony of this, Ahmad stated, had left a deep impression on him and it was his heartfelt desire to see real progress in delivering housing to the poor.
He said that solutions to the housing shortfall require out-of-the-box thinking and the authorities need to give serious thought to creating the kind of institutional infrastructure that would help address the problem. The launch of the PMRC is, he added, a vital step in this direction, but of course, further building blocks need to be put in place, including measures to bring the construction industry into the formal sector and to eliminate legal and regulatory obstacles to the provision of low-cost housing. This will reduce the need for the governments (Federal as well as Provincial) to provide subsidies from their limited resources.
He complimented the efforts of the Board of Directors of PMRC under the chairmanship of Rehmat Hasnie and the management team, PMRC CEO N Kokularupen, and COO Dr Muhammad Saleem, and CFO and Company Secretary Zulfiqar Alam. He said that from inception, his guiding philosophy was to have “the right person for the right job”. This has resulted in the induction of a highly experienced and professional management team and this augurs well for the future success of the company.
The event was presided over by the Chief Guest, SBP Deputy Governoe, Jameel Ahmed.
NBP Group Chief Risha Mohyeddin, signed the Shareholders Agreement on behalf of
NBP. Group Chief, Commercial and Retail Banking Group, Naheed Sultana also attended the event.
