Surprisingly enough, it has concluded that until and unless the prices of cement and steel are brought down, the overall construction cost will not come down. It has also lamented that the cost of building materials - particularly of cement and steel - together constituting almost 50 percent of any housing or construction project - has increased manifold in the recent past. As for the budgetary relief for the sector, it has argued that having remained confined to cement and cable, which account for 23 percent of the cost of the material used in a housing unit, it leaves little by way of relief on other inputs, such as iron, steel, paints, tiles, marble and hardware, which it claimed are no less important to the construction of housing units.
What will appear to be all the more distressing about the Abad's version of the state of housing industry in the country is the rigmarole made of the cement industry.
For contrary to earlier reports of a big boost to this industry from various approaches, including conversion of plants to coal and increased capacity building, it will appear as yet remaining a drag on the construction industry.
According to Abad's estimates, cement alone accounts for 30 percent of the overall cost of any housing unit and it goes further up in respect of other construction activities.
Mention, in this regard, may also be made of the Abad's contention that the prices of cement, which ranged between Rs 170 to Rs 180 per bag in November 2002, had risen in December 2002 to Rs 190 to Rs 231 per bag, subsequently spurting to Rs 210-Rs 230 per bag after the budget.
The Abad report also has it that the benefit of 25 percent reduction in excise duty on cement was not passed on to the consumers by the cement makers. Little wonder, having thus presented a bleak picture of the housing industry in the country, the Association wants the cement manufacturers to increase production to, at least, 80 percent or more of their installed capacity.
This is besides the demand for lowering the duty on import of cement, imposition of various taxes on cement producers on the basis of capacity of the manufacturing units, regulating the prices through controls on the products of State Cement Corporation units and not allowing them to form part of any cartels.
To ensure all this, the government has been asked to use the Monopoly Control Authority as a more vibrant and strong watchdog.
This much for the cement-related predicament of the housing industry. As for steel, which it has identified as the most important input in construction, it has lamented that despite frantic efforts on the part of government during the recent past, its prices have continued rising steeply.
Again, contending that steel accounts for 24 percent of the overall cost of a housing unit, it has made a pointed reference to the huge increase of as much as Rs 10,000 per ton in the cost of steel in a couple of months, which has been attributed to a sharp rise in the prices of ships offered for breaking around the world.
Needless to point to the ideas of further addition to the woes of the domestic construction industry from the increase in import duty from 16 percent to 21 percent.
As for the internal factors adding to the steel-related problems in housing, the Abad report has pointed out that no more than 25 percent of total re-rolling mills get billets directly from the Pakistan Steel Mills, the remaining 75 percent obtaining it at a premium from the privileged few.
Again, alleging that Pakistan Steel has increased its prices to enhance profitability, Abad has deplored that it is not working to its full capacity, urging the government to take remedial measures to bring down steel prices, while demanding direct supply of billets to all re-rolling mills, restoration of its working to full capacity and reduction in duty on steel.
All in all, the pleas put forward by Abad can be summed up as nothing short of complete protection to the housing industry, irrespective of the overall woes such props and incentives mean to the national economy.
It's certainly a tall order, which the country can hardly afford.