KARACHI: HBFC has stopped providing cheap construction loans to the public, while the top management officers are unable to manage the institution even with huge salaries and perks.
The country’s only government housing finance institution (HBFC) has failed miserably in its constitutional responsibility to provide its roof facility to the low-income section.
The financial position of HBFC can be estimated from the fact that compared to the total issued loans of Rs.14.27 billion, the value of loans incurred by HBFC itself has reached Rs.26.27 billion, which is the total assets of the institution. is also more than 47 percent.
According to the financial performance report of HBFC till December 31, 2023, out of 13 schemes for purchase, construction and renovation of houses, 12 schemes have not received new financing. Instead HBFC has issued loans for solar system installation which is increasing significantly.
According to the financial records of December 31, 2023, under the Ghar Ujala scheme, new loans of more than 7.5 crore rupees were issued for the installation of 3 KW to 20 KW solar systems in a period of only one year. There was a trend of decrease instead of increase in loans.
On December 31, 2023, the total value of advances was 13.5 billion rupees, while on December 31, 2022, the total value of advances was recorded at 15 billion 60 crores.
Statistics show that no public loan scheme of HBFC has been operational during the period under review, despite non-disbursement of loans, the staff of the institution has been continuously increased instead of reduced. Despite the non-disbursement of loans, the company’s expenses are increasing and operating expenses have reached Rs 1.8 billion.
Instead of providing cheap loans to the class living in rental houses in inflation, all the favors of HBFC are limited to its employees, HBFC has generously issued cheap loans to the employees.
The management of FBFC has also issued subsidized loans to its employees for purchase, construction and repair of houses at a very low interest rate of three percent, besides loans for the purchase of cars at an interest rate of 4 percent for 5 years. Loans equivalent to 5/5 months salaries were also issued for a period of 2 years to additional Ksar officers.
According to the financial performance report of HBFC till December 31, 2023, cheap loans of 17 crore 70 lakh rupees were given to the employees in a period of one year.
Interestingly, HBFC is also unable to recover the loans issued to its employees and HBFC’s own employees are also defaulters of the company to the tune of Rs.55 lakh.
The Auditor General of Pakistan has also pointed out serious irregularities in the performance of HBFC, including the illegal appointment of the Chief Financial Officer and the Managing Director in HBFC, the provision of car and driver facilities to the former Managing Director and HBFC. Issues like distribution of cash awards to employees despite poor financial performance of C.
The auditor general has also identified irregularities in contracts in the audit of HBFC, according to which contracts were awarded to three companies with a total value of Rs. The contractors awarded the contract include the contracts for supplying laptops, furniture, civil engineering and electrical work and appointment of external auditors.
During the year 2021 alone, contracts worth Rs 13 crore were illegally awarded by changing the cost and nature of work in HBFC, including two contracts for the development of a software application and two contracts for the appointment of a tax consultant.
The HBFC management has given its stand that all the contracts in HBFC were awarded through a transparent and non-discriminatory process as per the rules of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority. In the last two years, the institution has issued new loans worth 11 billion rupees. In three years, the value of non-performing loans has decreased by 1.4 billion rupees, the value of total non-performing loans has reached 2.7 billion rupees.
According to the spokesman, the administration is running the institution efficiently and is in touch with the Privatization Commission for privatization and is providing full support.
