13 November 2007
DUBAI — The Overseas Pakistanis Foundation has launched several new schemes for non-resident Pakistanis, including a revived pension scheme, an industrial zone, and Haj and Umrah quotas.
This was stated by Syed Nayyar Hasnain Haider, the newly-appointed managing director of OPF, at a meeting with the community at the Pakistan Sports and Recreation Club in Dubai on Sunday.
He led a delegation, that included A. Asad Khan, executive director, and Bashir Abid, general manager of OPF, on a visit to Saudi Arabia recently.
The pension scheme is managed by Overseas Pakistanis Pension Trust, a subsidiary of OPF.
Different packages have been finalised by the Actuaries offering 5-, 10- and 15-year plans with the option of lump-sum and annual payments. The minimum contribution has been fixed at Rs24,000 instalment for the annual plan and Rs120,000 for the lump-sum payment plan — payable in dollars equivalent to the mentioned amounts. There is no maximum limit for contribution to both plans but the additional amounts must be in multiples of the minimum.
The expected pension payment on maturity ranges from Rs1,541 per month to Rs6,689 per month on minimum contributions. An industrial zone for overseas Pakistanis is being planned near Chakri interchange on Pakistan Motorway (M-II) on 2,000 acres of land as a joint venture between the OPF and government of Punjab, Pakistan, and implemented through a joint venture company. The federal government in Pakistan will guarantee all basic utilities.
The Haj and Umrah package for the dependents of overseas Pakistanis is expected to attract many non-resident Pakistanis who can pay in foreign exchange for the cost incurred.
Prime Minister Shaukar Aziz has allocated a quota for 500 overseas Pakistanis to perform Haj in the 2008 season. Arrangements and modalities are being worked out to launch the scheme from next year.
Haider said the OPF is also constructing its own buildings, including hostels, for several of its schools and colleges in the country. It is also in talks with educational institutions for more reserved seats for the children of overseas Pakistanis (OPs).
The facilities offered under the Gold and Silver Card given to OPs remitting money through official channels were being reviewed, Haider said.
Asad Khan said 100 new staff are being appointed at the facilitation counters for the OPs at the international airports in Pakistan.
Plans are under way to set up a university in Islamabad and colleges in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar. He invited OPs to join the projects as joint venture partners.
OPF Valley scheme
The OPF managing director came under intense questioning by the community members, specially about the OPF Valley Zone-V housing scheme in Islamabad launched in 1996, in which a large number of overseas Pakistanis had invested huge amounts of money but the work had not started yet.
Haider admitted that the scheme had become a ‘stigma’ to the OPF. “Unfortunately, the development work has not yet started. It was twice tendered but not awarded. The response to make it the idea of making it a joint venture scheme has not been good. The negotiations are on. The new board of governors at their first meeting decided to restart the scheme,” he said. He expected that the development work, whose cost has increased four-fold, would be awarded by the OPF in six months.
Pakistan Consul-General Abdul Hameed said that he would submit the recommendations to the government for the benefit of the OPs. He suggested that a monitoring cell be established to follow up the progress in various cases.
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