Low-cost housing schemes necessary for big cities, say builders


KARACHI:

Low-cost housing schemes are necessary for big cities of Pakistan, otherwise unplanned housing schemes will continue to emerge and create security challenges for the government, said Association of Builders and Developers (Abad) Chairman Mohsin Sheikhani.

“When you do not provide planned low-cost housing schemes as an alternative, people will continue to live in slums that have practically no necessities and hence they serve as a breeding ground for crimes,” he said.

In an interview with The Express Tribune, Sheikhani said that low-cost housing is the best answer to growing security issues in big cities because it is very difficult for the government to fully control crimes in unplanned residential areas.

“Government and private sector must unite their efforts to provide housing schemes and share the burden of common man,” he said, adding that Abad is already trying to have the input of government institutions on how they can provide small low-cost houses by joining hands.

People move to metropolitan cities all over the world so this is not a challenge for Pakistan alone. However, owing to a huge shortage of houses in the country, private and public institutions must go along to provide cheap houses as an alternative to slums, he said.

Low-cost housing projects will not be high-rise buildings but small houses with ground plus two floors because the maintenance cost of high-rise buildings is too high. “We have estimated that we can provide a 400 square feet flat at a price below Rs600,000 and 600 square feet flat below Rs900,000,” said Sheikhani, whose association represents over 700 builders from different parts of the country.

Citing the example of Mumbai, he said “we could relocate people from slums to planned housing schemes with a little bit of planning. In Karachi, where we have enough land, we can relocate a large number of people to low-cost houses in Lyari Development Authority and Malir Development Authority.”

Sheikhani believes that political uncertainty and law and order are the biggest impediments in the way of growth of construction industry. “Security issues badly hurt this industry because housing schemes usually take years to complete.”

On security issues, he said, during the last wave of target killings in Karachi two months ago, many housing projects were postponed or cancelled. Now that the security situation is improving, over 20 projects have been launched over the last two months and some 40 are in the process of launching, which shows that there is a huge demand for houses in Karachi.

Despite the huge demand, only those who are badly in need are spending on housing. Investment in housing sector has remained low over the last four years, while overseas Pakistanis are also passive when it comes to investing in the housing industry. In Karachi, not more than 10% of overseas Pakistanis are pouring money in flats and high-rise buildings, Sheikhani said.

He stressed the need for improving security, which is the biggest problem for local and foreign investors.