LAHORE: 35,000 residential plots to be developed in five years
By Reporter
LAHORE, Oct 21: The Punjab Housing and Physical Planning Department director-general has said the government will develop 35,000 residential plots in the province during the next five years at a cost of Rs5 billion.
Giving a presentation on public sector's approaches towards housing on the third day of the seminar on 'Urban housing in Pakistan' at the National College of Arts here on Thursday, Shahzad Jamil said the government also planned to develop 11,000 plots on an 780-acre area under the annual development programme this year. It had also decided to develop 800 to 1,000 plots for expatriates at each of the former divisional headquarters in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Sargodha, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan.
He said 75 per cent of the plots proposed to be developed under the ADP this year would measure three to five marlas each and would be allotted to low-income groups at affordable prices through district housing committees headed by district coordination officers. The government would allot 50,000 plots to be developed in Sasti Basti schemes with limited facilities in rural areas free of cost. Every Basti would consist of at least 100 five-marla plots to be developed on five-acre areas near the existing settlements.
He said the country had a backlog of 4.3 million housing units whereas the Punjab's backlog was estimated at 2.494 million units. The country required 0.57 million new houses every year and the Punjab 0.331 million. The government was not in a position to clear the housing backlog because 0.147 million new houses could not be built every year due to limited financial resources. It had, therefore, decided to cover the incremental demand every year so that the backlog did not increase further.
He said the Housing and Physical Planning Department had developed 104,000 plots in the area development schemes and 19,000 three-marla plots since its establishment in 1973 for providing housing facilities to the low-income groups and regulating the growth of new settlements. It had also completed physical planning of 239 settlements, including 125 in the urban areas.
He said the first housing policy for disposal of plots in the public sector housing schemes was announced in 1977 providing for allotment of plots measuring up to seven marla by ballot and auction of bigger ones.
The quotas were abolished under the policy announced in 1993. The procedure of allotment of plots measuring up to five marla through ballot was restored under a law enacted in 1998 which prescribed for auction of plots measuring seven marla and above. Plots in public sector housing schemes were allotted on a no profit no loss basis. The prices of plots in private housing schemes were three to five times the prices in the public sector.
He said the government was also evolving a master plan for integrated development of the province during the next 50 years. Socio-economic surveys had already been started for collecting data for the proposed plan.
He said the government had decided to regulate the development of private housing schemes by enforcing uniform rules for the same because the private sector shared its responsibility in respect of meeting the growing housing demand. Commercialization rules had also been framed to control unauthorized commercialization of residential properties.
He said enforcement of uniform bylaws for the approval of private housing schemes had been considered necessary to avoid controversies similar to that of Bahria Town in the recent past. The government had decided to end the duality of powers of development authorities at Gujranwala, Multan, Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi and tehsil/town municipal administrations in respect of sanctioning new housing schemes by restraining the latter from sanctioning schemes in the areas controlled by the former.
He said the private housing schemes would be approved for a minimum area of 160 kanals owned and possessed by the applicants under the uniform rules. The developers would have to mortgage 20 per cent of the plots with the scheme sanctioning authority as a guarantee for development. The plots would be redeemed on completion of development. The private developers would not be allowed to make any change in the site plans or change the use of plots without the approval of the sanctioning authorities. Penalties in the form of heavy fines and imprisonment have been prescribed for unauthorized changes in site plans of the schemes and the use of plots.
Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority Director-General Tasneem Siddiqui and architects Kamil Khan Mumtaz and Parveen Rahman gave presentations on Khuda ki Basti Model and Work of the Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority, Sustainable Housing and Katchi Abadi Phenomenon and Orangi Pilot Project, respectively.
