BACKGROUND

Remunerations given to the government employees are not commensurate with the services they perform. Their counterparts in the private sector get much better pay packages. Apart from the respect attached to the government service in our society, the only consolation used to be a handsome pension and G.P Fund with which they could buy a house/plot on superannuation. The current inflationary trend in the property prices has eroded that expectation and thus there is need to put in place a compensatory social security network for the employees with this objective in view. The Government of the Punjab has launched a scheme of providing houses/plots to member Government Servants from BS-1 to BS-22 after their retirement. The scheme is on the analogy of the defense forces housing schemes where the officers pay the development and construction cost, and the land is provided free of cost by the Government.

IMPLEMENTATION

The Government of the Punjab has promulgated the Punjab Government Servants Housing Foundation Act, 2004 for implementation of the concept. The Foundation is managed by a Board of Directors headed by the Chief Secretary, Punjab. The salient features of the implementation strategy are :-

1. Membership.
All regular Government Servants are eligible to become member of the Foundation by option. Membership application were invited from 26.07.2004 to 28.02.2005 and thereafter membership was closed. Approximately 144,000 applications were received for membership of the Foundation. Every member will be provided a house or plot according to his entitlement seniority at the station of his preference, subject to eligibility under law/rules. The Board of Directors has approved to establish housing schemes in the following 11 stations/districts:-

(1) Bahawalpur (Established/Completed)
(2) Dera Ghazi Khan (Established/Completed)
(3) Faisalabad (Established/Completed)
(4) Gujranwala (Not established yet due to non-availability of suitable land)
(5) Lahore (Established/Completed)
(6) Multan (Established/Completed)
(7) Rawalpindi (Established/Completed)
(8) Sahiwal (Complete)
(9) Sargodha (Not established yet due to non-availability of suitable land)
(10) Sialkot (Under Development)
(11) Khanewal (Established/Completed)
(12) Jhang (Under Designing/Planning)
(13) Lodhran (Under Designing/Planning)

2. Recovery of cost of the Houses/Plots.
This is basically a self financing scheme where employees will have to pay the entire cost of development infrastructure and construction of house in case of option of House by the member. In case of option of Plot, the member will have to pay only development infrastructure cost. However the raw land will be a subsidy from the Government and no price for the raw land will be charged.

3. Mode of payment.
Full cost of the house/plot will be recovered before handing over the house/plot. To provide a comfort level to the members, part of the total cost will be recovered as monthly installments paid by them through at-source deductions from their monthly pay bills. The deduction will be made by the Accountant General, Punjab / District Accounts Offices and transferred to the Foundation every month. A separate Account of deductions for each employee will be maintained by the Foundation. An annual mark up will be paid on the accumulations. A computer programme for the purpose has been prepared. The balance at the credit of each employee will be available on line and can be perused by him.

4. Land Bank.
A land bank has been established for the purpose to make available suitable lands for construction of housing colonies. This land bank will consist of lands ;-
(a) Transferred by the Government, free of cost.
(b) Purchased from the operational surpluses of the PGSHF i.e. sale of commercial lands developed in the housing colonies.
(c) Purchase of private lands by raising bank loans.
(d) Purchase of construct units from Government developed in the housing schemes.
Provision of funds for land is basically a responsibility of the Government of Punjab. The state land provided to the Foundation will be monetized and reflected in the Budget both as income and expenditure sides. The housing colonies planned on such lands will generate some expensive commercial lands, sale proceeds of which will form a resource base for the land bank of the Foundation. The periodic gaps accruing in these resources will be filled through bridge financing by the Government of Punjab to ensure that maximum prices are obtained of the commercial properties. A financial model on the basis of this concept is being worked out so that the Government’s liability from time to time can be anticipated and provided for. By adopting this mechanism, the Foundation will have a reliable financial base for the purchase of the lands both private and public for future use and its reliance on the Government for provision of land or for Funds for this purpose will cease to exist.

5. PGSHF Fund.
The Punjab Government Servants Housing Foundation Act, 2004 provides establishment of a Fund that consists of :
(i.) such grants as may, from time to time, be made by the Government;
(ii.) other contributions and donations by private or public organizations;
(iii.) Such loans and advances as may be obtained from financial institutions with the help of the Government wherever necessary;
(iv.) Contributions made by members from time to time;
(v.) Income and profits from investments from various sources;
(vi.) Fees or other user charges;
(vii.) Amounts received from sale or disposal of assets of the Foundation; and
(viii.) All other sums received by the Foundation and income from any other source.

DEVELOPMENT OPERATIONS
The development operations of the Foundation will be carried out on market based practices such as through hiring of planning, designing and construction consultants or through a public private partnership with the management contractors / developers. FUNDING of the operations will be done with the following :
(a.) income stream accruing to the Foundation on account of members monthly contributions.
(b.) from loans negotiated with the Financial Institutions.
6. Categorization of Houses/Plots.
The houses/plots to be built have been placed in four categories. Category along with entitlement of the employee grade wise is as under :-

7. Allotment / Allocation of built up houses/Plots
The scheme provides for allotment / transfer of built houses/plots to the members at the time of their retirement (or in favor of their families in case of death during service) in a transparent manner in order of their seniority. The seniority will be determined for each category on the basis of the date of retirement irrespective of their scale wise seniority or their seniority that existed prior to their retirement.

8. After sale maintenance of the housing scheme.
The Foundation will ensure that the schemes built by it are maintained properly after their transfer. For the purpose, a Residents Society under the relevant law will be formed and some financial recurring resources will be placed at its disposal. The Society will be empowered to raise user’s charges. Every proprietary right holder will be mandated, as an essential condition of transfer of such rights, to become a member of such Society.

9. Government’s Role.
This scheme cannot effectively be implemented unless it is actively backed by the Government in the following manner :-
(a) Top supervision of its management
(b) Provision of financial resources to it in the shape of:
(i.) Land free of cost transferred by the Govt.
(ii.) Grants
(iii.) Loans
(iv.) Guarantees to the Financial Institutions against loans obtained by the Foundation.