Construction is one of the more vigorous sectors of the economy, growing at a rate of 5.9 percent in FY 1992. Construction of houses and the associated infrastructure was a major element in the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1988-93), which proposed the provision of 650,000 urban housing sites and 2.2 million plots for the rural poor to construct their own houses. The plan also sought to provide a rural water supply to an additional 31.2 million people and sanitation facilities for 17 million people. Total planned construction expenditure was Rs29.7 billion over the five-year period. Much of the investment in housing came from the remittances of Pakistani workers in the Middle East. Some economists felt that this investment distorted the market for land on which to build in some areas and made the position of poor people more difficult.

Data as of April 1994