November 08, 2006	Wednesday	Shawwal 15, 1427

KARACHI, Nov 7: About 60 per cent of flats in newly announced housing projects are booked within two weeks. Expatriate Pakistanis are active in the property business in Karachi and their share in new deals is not less than 30 per cent.

These facts emerged from a survey conducted by Dawn. A number of stakeholders in the property business were contacted and their views were sought over the demand, viability and possible future of housing schemes advertised.

It has been observed that builders prefer pre- and post-Ramazan period to announce new schemes. Among others a reason could be the fact that most of overseas Pakistanis visiting the country in a year come during this period.

Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) Chairman Hafiz-ur-Rahman Butt told Dawn that some six new projects of flats and apartments had been introduced by the builders which would be completed in three to four years and so far these projects had received a good response.

He said that builders had been flooding the print and electronic media with advertisements for the last few years especially on two religious occasions in order to lure visiting expatriates Pakistanis. There are hardly any big projects for new houses and bungalows because of high cost of land.

He said that the local immigrants, who migrate from various cities to Karachi, were not active in the property market as they preferred to stay on rent. Besides, majority of them were too poor to afford property in the mega city, he added.

“Pakistan faces over six million houses backlog and every year a new demand for 600,000 houses crops up for residential purposes. More than 50 per cent of existing housing stock is over 50 years old. It is also estimated that 50 per cent urban population now lives in slumps and squatter settlements,” he observed.Both the private and public sector jointly provide 300,000 units every year, he added. “Improper infrastructure and lack of bank loaning facility for housing sector (like on the pattern of car leasing and financing) are the main impediments in meeting the rising demand”.

It is assumed that the new projects especially apartments will put a burden on the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), which has already been infamous for record load-shedding in last summer and even till today. The KESC will have to make extra efforts in managing the additional load of power when these projects mature in the next three to four years.

Mr Rahman claimed that the KESC had already approved the power load for new projects.

He said ABAD had already discussed the power and water situation with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz recently and apprised him about the new projects.

KESC Chief Spokesman Sultan Hassan told Dawn that by July 2007 the mega city would have additional power of 500-mw when Combine Cycle Power Plant would be installed. “The plant will be imported from Italy at a cost of Rs25 billion,” he added.

Power consumption is expected to reach over 2,500-mw next year. Last year in summer Karachi consumed 2,350-mw in which Wapda provided 750-mw while 250 mega watts were shared by two Independent Power Producers and the rest was generated by the KESC. In start of winter this year, power demand is 2,100-mw while in December, January and February it will range between 1,800-1,900-mw.

“We have a short-term arrangement for future power requirement but we can’t tell about our long-term plans,” he said while replying a query how the KESC would handle the power situation in view of upcoming mega housing projects.

He said that power demand was increasing by seven to eight per cent every year keeping this tempo in view the city would need additional 1,000-mw by 2009-2010. “We expect that power consumption in the city will reach between 6,000-7,000-mw by 2015 in case the 7-8 per cent economic growth is maintained,” he said, adding that the KESC could increase the load consumption in short-term only.

He said the KESC load sanctioning depended on availability. Last year there were some pending cases of builders for 250-300-mw but it could not be executed, he added.

Media Adviser Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) Azizullah Sharif told Dawn that there was no water problem and even it would not be in future when new mega projects would mature after three to four years.

The real problem is distribution. Some 30-35 per cent out of total present water supply of 629 million gallons per day goes into losses due to leakage and pilferages, he said, adding that the KWSB has already divided the city into three zones in order to check water losses.

The city’s current water demand is 648 MGD.

The city gets 577 MGD from Indus Source, 100 MGD from Hub and two MGD from Dumlotte Well. Besides, 100 MGD is also being supplied from K-III project which started four months back. Out of 100 MDG from K-III, domestic consumers get 80 per cent supply while the rest is provided to the industries, he said.

He said a feasibility report was being prepared for another project to get another 100 MGD from the Indus Source. The report would be sent to the Ecnec for the approval.