Banks must introduce products for construction industry: EFP

KARACHI: President of Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP), Ismail Suttar, on behalf of the investors in the construction sector has urged the banking sector to introduce friendly bank products on a war-footing basis to avoid any further delay in availing the incentives in the construction policy.

The Employers Federation wants banks to immediately allocate a substantial percentage of their portfolio to provide collateral-free mortgage credits without asking about sources of income about projects that need to be financed.

“The private sector has pledged an investment of US $1 trillion before the end of the specified period of December 2020 to avail the benefits under the policy,” the EFP added.

Ismail Suttar said that the construction industry contributes only 0.5 percent toward the GDP of Pakistan and has hardly got a chance to proliferate due to the absence of one-window structure, financing, and lengthy documentation procedures. “Hence only around 65,000 builders out of 220 million populations are active in the construction sector,” he remarked.

“A boom in the construction sector would jump-start the economy and reactivate many industries that have closed down due to the lull in the construction sector. Moreover, COVID-19 has very seriously impacted on the employment of people and job losses are expected to increase to 15 to 18 million,” he added.

The EFP President further said, “A surge in construction would enable the unemployed to seek jobs in the more than 45 industries that cater to the construction sector.”

Ismail Suttar reminded the Presidents of banks and other lending agencies that the time-bound inflow of no-questions-asked investment is December 2020 and time is running out.

“They must fast track their lending policies if the construction policy is to succeed and the objectives of an economic turnaround are positively achieved,” he concluded.