By Moin Khan ISLAMABAD, March 22 (INP-WealthPK): The government plans to set up a prefabricated house manufacturing plant in Islamabad to provide low-cost units to the people. The first-ever prefabricated house plant was set up in Faisalabad by a private company in February last year. The government initially plans to manufacture 12,500 prefabricated houses at the Islamabad plant, a spokesperson of the Naya Pakistan Housing Authority (NAPHDA) told WealthPK. The spokesperson said that the authority was in negotiations with Saudi Arabian and Egyptian investors to make investments in the prefabricated housing sector in Pakistan. The NAPHDA spokesperson told WealthPK that the Faisalabad plant was set up by a Chinese company. The spokesperson said that a prefabricated housing unit in rural areas would cost Rs2.7 million and Rs3.2 million in urban areas. He said that the government’s initiative would go a long way in addressing the burgeoning housing needs in the country. Pakistan urgently needs to adopt more sustainable low-cost housing techniques to provide affordable housing to people as having a decent accommodation for low and middle-income groups in Pakistan is getting all the more difficult considering  the runaway prices of construction material and sagging incomes. The housing needs in Pakistan are increasing by the day with the rapid growth in population and people’s influx to cities in search of employment. According to the World Bank, Pakistan is facing a shortage of 11.4 million housing units currently, and the number will grow up to 17 million by 2025. The growth in Pakistan’s middle class during the last decade at an annual rate of 2.4% is worrisome for the policymakers to enable them to have jobs and shelter. The prefabricated method omits labour costs and saves time as a simple unit can be built in 40 days. It is estimated that a prefabricated housing unit costs 20% to 25% less than the traditional unit. So, it is a win-win situation for Pakistan to be able to provide cheap housing to millions of people. Though Pakistan is a little late in adopting this technology compared with the other countries in the region, it has the potential to boost the prefabricated and manufactured housing sector due to the growing needs of the teeming millions of our people to have a decent shelter.