January 1, 2006	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 29, 1426

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RAWALPINDI, Dec 31: Influx of migrants, especially students and job-seekers, to Rawalpindi city has created severe shortage of accommodation.

The existing housing stock of 0.15 million residential units for over 1.3 million people is not sufficient.

Sources in the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) said there was a need to construct 10,000 more residential units at a rate of six persons per unit.

“The increasing population and influx of outsiders into the city is a matter of serious concern for the authority and public as well,” the source added.

It had never been so difficult to find a room in areas like Shamasabad, Rehmanabad, Westridge, Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, Pandora, Satellite Town and other cheap areas of the city.

Although rent has increased almost threefold, people are still ready to pay it. To get a room for Rs4,000 in Satellite Town is a great achievement.

Asked about reasons for the shortage of accommodation in the city, a source in the RDA said: “The reason behind the increase in rents is the rising number of non-local students who have taken admissions to educational institutions here as well as those who consider Islamabad a job-friendly city.” The source said the annual demand for housing units in the city was Rs10,000, adding that the city was already witnessing shortage of 50,000 residential complexes. According to a survey conducted by the RDA, 41.9 per cent people, who were looking for accommodation, were in the city for job purposes while 48 per cent were students.

Another factor behind the shortage of accommodation, the source said, was imposition of ‘Punjab Acquisition of Land Act in 1985’ under which no development authority was allowed to launch a housing scheme.

“This act has adversely affected the construction of residential flats and just paved the way for housing societies meant only for the rich,” he maintained.

When this reporter sought comments of a property dealer in Pandora Market, he said 50 per cent of the people working in Islamabad resided in Rawalpindi, and this led to shortage of accommodation in the already congested city.