Building homes: Govt focuses on cheap housing with long awaited scheme

Intends to launch ambitious plan.

KARACHI:

Nobody can deny the significance of the role that the housing and construction industry play in the growth trajectory of a country. Unfortunately, Pakistan is one of those countries that have failed to adopt an effective national housing policy and therefore has been unsuccessful in bringing any positive economic change.

Now that Pakistan is being led by a government that promotes business and is working on a new housing policy, a cohesive national housing policy can be expected.

The government intends to build 100,000 houses every year — in effect, 500,000 houses in the next five years. However, this project is still in its initial stages as the planning procedure for this monumental task requires a lot of work.



National Housing Authority (NHA) Director General Muhammad Irfan told The Express Tribune, “We are working on a new national housing policy and for that we are taking input from all stakeholders particularly from leading builders and the State Bank of Pakistan.”

NHA – an independent arm of Ministry of Housing and Works – is designated to give policy guidelines or to formulate housing policies for the country.

When asked why the formation of new policy was delayed, Irfan said, “Our target is to come up with a housing policy that can boost both affordable housing as well as housing for higher band of the society. This is why planning is taking time and effort.”



One of the biggest challenges for the government and its policy-making institutions is that there is an acute shortage of reliable data. The country had its last census in the year 1998, which is why both private and public institutions are mainly relying only on estimates.

The private sector that is being led by the Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (Abad) – an association of over 700 builders and developers – is giving its input in two of the four working groups set up under the steering committee that has been assigned by this government to help formulate a comprehensive framework for housing policy.

These four working groups are working on housing finance and fiscal incentive, identification and allocation of land, private sector participation and building codes and by-laws for the projects. A leading builder from Karachi said on condition of anonymity, “In the absence of any reliable data, both public and private sectors are compelled to rely on the data of gas and electricity distribution companies. This is how we get to know how many new houses have been built in the country in a certain period.”



Abad shared their optimism regarding the current government’s plans for the housing and construction industry. Abad Senior Vice Chairman Saleem Kassim Patel said, “With a growing population, Pakistan’s potential for housing and construction is huge. With a few right steps the government can change the landscape of housing and construction in Pakistan.”

Leading builders and developers say that the best solution for the government is to give maximum autonomy to the private sector. They believe the government should facilitate the private sector by giving fiscal incentives and solving any bureaucratic obstacles.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2013.

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