By Syed Marwan Shah ISLAMABAD, June 10 (INP-WealthPK): Work on various apartment projects launched by the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) has been halted due to a steep escalation in prices of raw materials, an official of the authority told a Senate panel recently. The authority’s chief engineer Colonel retired Imtiazul Haq Khattak informed the Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works that work on Kashmir Avenue Apartments in the G-13 sector of Islamabad has been suspended by the contractor due to an abnormal increase in prices of construction material (steel and cement). Ground-breaking of the Kashmir Avenue Apartments project being built on 56 kanals of land took place on April 17, 2019, to provide housing facilities to the federal government employees. The 21-floor each tower will have 1,467 apartments of different sizes. The project is estimated to cost Rs14.2 billion. The FGEHA official told the Senate panel that 24% of the work has been complete on Tower-A, 19% on Tower-B and only 5% on Tower-C, and the overall progress on the apartments is 16%. He said that the contractors have also stopped work on similar projects being executed in the federal capital and Lahore and Rawalpindi over abnormal rise in construction costs. The FGEHA chief engineer informed the senators that work has also been suspended on Chaklala Heights in Rawalpindi; the Skyline Apartments near the New Islamabad International Airport; The Lifestyle Residency Apartments in Lahore and Lifestyle Residency Apartments, also in the G-13 sector of Islamabad. The committee members reprimanded the FGEHA and asked it to take action against the contractors because the clause regarding any future price escalation in construction material was duly included in the contract. They said and the contractors are bound to complete the work on time. Land measuring 508 kanals was transferred by Capital Development Authority (CDA) to FGEHA in 2019 for construction of apartments for federal government employees in Chaklala, Rawalpindi, under the Naya Pakistan housing programme. Four categories of apartments were planned for the employees with a tentative cost of Rs26.63 billion. The overall progress of the project is only 15.46%.   Chaklala Heights  

Sr. No.	CATEGORY	NO OF BLOCKS	FLATS/FLOOR	NO OF STORIES	NO OF FLATS	POL Issued
1	1800 SFT	5	4	G+11	240	217
2	1500 SFT	7	4	G+11	744	715
3	900 SFT	13	8	G+9	1040	932
4	700 SFT	25	8	G+9	1120	416
Total					3144	2280

The Skyline Apartments project being executed near the New Islamabad International Airport is a Joint Venture (JV). It will deliver 3,945 apartments being built on 225 kanals of land located near the Top City-1, Islamabad. The project is estimated to cost Rs27.61 billion. Skyline Apartments, Islamabad

Skyline Apartments,	Phase-I (860 Apartments)
Cost: Rs. 27.61 billion	• Excavation of Package-1 – 100%
No of Units: 3,945	• Raft of 4 towers 100%.
(Apartments)	• Basement of 4 Towers 100%
Phase-I (860 Apartments	• Ground Floor of 3 Towers 100%
Period: May-2020 to Jun-23	• First Floor of 1 Tower 100%
Employment Generation: 13,500	• Earthworks 80%
Area: 6.1 million SFT	• Phase-I on ground
	progress 18% against 25%
	timeline owing to shortage
	of steel supply
	• Project will be completed on
	time

  The Lifestyle Residency Apartments project in Lahore was launched in March 2020 comprising five towers having 1,258 apartments. The project is being executed on 75 kanals of land located adjacent to Rohi Nala Road near the Thethar village. It is estimated to cost Rs10.64 billion. Overall physical progress on the project is just 10%. Lifestyle Residency Apartments, Lahore  

S. No	Type of Apartments	Area of Apartments	No. of Apartments	POL Issued
1	A-Type (BPS 20-22)	1875 Sft	426	138
2	B-Type (BPS 16-19)	1150 Sft	359	480
3	C-Type (BPS 1-15)	880 Sft	347	135
Total			1132	753

  Lifestyle Residency Apartments projects, also being built in the G-13 sector of Islamabad, is being executed in two phases on 120 kanals of land with a total cost of Rs32 billion. Phase-1 consists of 1,836 apartments and is to be completed by December 2022. However, 68% of work has been complete till date. Phase-2 entails 1,404 apartments and is to be completed by December 2023. But, only 7% of work has been complete.