Housing Policy 2025 offers roadmap for affordable housing, says PIDCL CEO

ISLAMABAD  –  Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan Infrastructure De­velopment Company Limited (PIDCL) Waseem Hayat Bajwa has said that the National Housing Policy 2025 offers a comprehensive roadmap to address Paki­stan’s growing housing needs through affordable fi­nancing, inclusive planning, sustainable construc­tion and climate-resilient infrastructure. Talking to a news wire, CEO PIDCL and Chairman of National Housing Policy Working Group said that the policy had been formulated after extensive consultations with federal and provincial institutions, academia, professionals, developers, financial institutions and development partners, with the objective of translat­ing the national housing vision into practical action.

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He said Pakistan’s first National Housing Policy was formulated in 2001, while significant demo­graphic, urban and economic changes over the past 25 years had created the need for a revised national framework. Waseem Bajwa said the pol­icy review was initiated in January 2025 on the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, at the initiative of Federal Minister for Housing and Works Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, and through the efforts of Federal Secretary for Housing and Works Capt (r) Muhammad Mahmood Rai. He said the review was completed in August 2026 following broad-based consultations and expert input.

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He said the housing challenge was not limited to the shortage of housing units but also involved affordability, access to finance, availability of land, infrastructure, construction costs, informal settle­ments and climate resilience. The policy, he said, therefore adopted a systems-based approach and was structured around nine strategic themes covering land and planning, housing finance, con­struction, informal settlements, affordable rental and rural housing, climate resilience, institutional arrangements and capacity building.

Highlighting housing finance as a key enabler, the CEO PIDCL said high financing costs, limited mortgage penetration, weak financing mecha­nisms, short-term lending tenures and land reg­istration issues remained major barriers to af­fordable housing. The policy proposes stronger housing finance institutions, affordable incremen­tal housing loans, longer financing tenures and im­proved land information systems to make housing finance more accessible and predictable, he added.

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Waseem Bajwa said particular emphasis had been placed on the housing needs of low-and middle-in­come groups in both urban and rural areas. He said the concept of adequate housing extended beyond the physical structure to include suitable location, secure land, access to physical and social infrastructure, while sustainability encompassed energy efficiency and cli­mate adaptation. The CEO said international develop­ment partners, including UN-Habitat, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and JICA, had also contrib­uted to the policy formulation process by sharing tech­nical expertise and international experience.

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