What you need to know about Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation

Islamabad’s real estate is one of the most rapidly emerging property markets in the country. With various cutting edge architectural marvels, the scope of real estate construction and development has broadened in this city. Amongst these, Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation is emerging as a trusted name.
Many buyers in the city are interested in investing here, even though a formal plan for this hasn’t been developed as of yet. Real estate experts dealing in the area have given details on the development status of the project and the required procedure for buying property.

Project Details

The project consists of two phases, located sparsely apart. According to Shahzad Khan and Waqar Haider, Phase I of the project is located in Bhara Kahu, whereas Phase II consists of sectors F-14 and F-15 and parts along the Thallian Interchange.

According to Khan, the project has been planned to allot almost 93,000 plots to the Federal government employees. In a recent notice, the administration of the Foundation has called upon all the members who’ve completed their registration for Phase I and II to upgrade their membership as per new promotions. This notice has been specifically published for all those employees who had initiated their allotment procedure, but during the process have been promoted as per Basic Pay Scale (BPS). With a change in pay-scale, the specifications of the payment and allotment simultaneously also change.

Khan further adds that Phase I has been specifically reserved for officers above Grade 17, whereas, Phase II is for Grade 1-16 employees. The payment procedures for both of these is very different as well. In 2009, the then government directed that the plots would be distributed on the basis of first-come-first-serve basis, however, this has now been done on the basis of age and grade; the senior most employees will get a chance to apply for their plots earlier than the newer employees.

More than 700 plots were given up for allotment to the employees during 2015 on instalments. The payment for these haven’t been completed as of yet. Both Haider and Khan believe that there is a lot of discrepancy regarding the area and various locations of the project. However, Haider believes that with the announcement of a decision by the Islamabad High Court later this month, the entire process would be smoothed and construction would begin soon. Haider has added that the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) has already been awarded with the construction and development work and soon after the decision is announced, work will be under way.

Buying procedure

As this is a housing society designed for the federal government employees, buying procedure here is a little different. Private buyers have to buy property through a government employee who has been allotted a plot here. According to Khan, the buyer can enter into an agreement with an employee by paying an additional fee. The employee carries out the payment on behalf of the buyer, while the buyer pays all instalments.

Future prospects

Both Khan and Haider are optimistic about the project as they believe that whenever the government takes the decision to develop it, it will be completed within few years. Haider has added that a lot of people are interested in buying here as the prices are significantly lower, but expected to rise soon. He added that a 10-marla plot located in Phase I costing PKR 3,000,000 is now at PKR 1,800,000-1,900,000. This is an attractive price to buy property for long-term investment purposes.

Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation might not seem like the most attractive option to buy from at the moment, however, with investor interest pinged here and development prospects for the society high, it is sure to be an exciting addition to Islamabad’s real estate market.