KARACHI: The Associa­tion of Builders and Develo­pers of Pakistan (ABAD) has advocated the need of high-rise residential buildings to overcome the prevailing sho­r­tage of housing units in view of meteoric rise in land prices.

Briefing media persons on Thursday, ABAD Patron-in-Chief Mohsin Abubakar Sheikhani said people belonging to middle class cannot purchase costly land and build their houses. “At least high-rise buildings are now somewhat meeting huge demand for housing.”

He said civic agencies concerned are recovering billions of rupees on account of infrastructure development but no one knows where that money goes as the problem of infrastructure still prevails all over Karachi.

For example a builder is paying more than Rs20m to civic agencies against a plot of 1,000 square yards for infrastructure development and other civic facilities but nothing is being delivered, he lamented.

According to an estimate the country is facing a shortage of eight million housing units and demand of almost 1.5 million units is being added into that shortfall every year.

He lamented huge increase in the betterment charges by the Sindh Building Control Authority saying even a 120-square yard plot owner would now have to pay Rs1.2 million first to build his house.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2016