‘Govt to tighten noose around real estate tricksters’

By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari Friday said the government would launch a complete crackdown against the illegal housing societies that played different tricks to hoodwink the expatriates by promising fake investment opportunities in real estate sector.
“Prime Minister, in a recent meeting of National Coordination Committee on Construction, has stressed the need for evolving a mechanism which can protect the overseas Pakistanis from tricksters of real estate sector, who trap innocent overseas Pakistanis through fake promotional campaigns on digital media,” he told the media persons.
Zulfikar Bukhari said the government, in consultation with regional land development authorities and other relevant departments, would soon introduce new laws to define rules for the real estate sector for advertisement of their products. He also hinted at materialization of his ministry’s initiative of setting up the first-ever fast-track court in the federal capital. “The establishment of fast-track in Islamabad is in near future,” he added.
The SAPM said the court, once established, would decide the matters related to land disputes of overseas Pakistanis within some days. Land related issues were the major cause of concern for the expats, he added. He also inaugurated the Machine Readable Passport (MRP) facility at the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) headquarters (HQs) to facilitate expats and their families back at home.