World Bank briefed about shortage of low cost housing schemes in Karachi

The City District Government of Karachi (CDGK) on Monday has asked the World Bank to invest in low cost housing schemes in Karachi. The city government is considering establishing a latest, low cost housing town on the sidelines of the under-construction Northern Bypass project.
City Nazim Naimatullah Khan told this to a visiting delegation of the World Bank, which called on him to consider the proposed scheme.
The City Nazim offered the bank to invest in the project and assured it of full payback of the loan.
He briefed the delegation about the prevailing shortage of low cost and standard housing facility in the city.
Giving guarantee of full recovery of loans, he pointed out that recovery rate of small loans in the country was above 95 percent.
He said that the city direly needed low cost housing projects to solve the housing problems of its low-income groups. He stated that in search of employment opportunities, people from all over the country migrated to Karachi in large numbers.
Owing to lack of proper planing to meet ever-increasing demand of housing facility, this migration had resulted in the explosion of Katcha Abadis in the metropolis, giving rise to filthy environment and poverty.
He further explained that despite awarding lease to these Katcha Abdis, the issue still required to be addressed properly.
In this perspective, he proposed the establishment of small towns based on modern concept of planning to facilitate the low-income class of the society with latest housing facilities, promising provision of all the basic civic amenities.
He assured the delegation that the people living in Katcha Abdis were ready to leave their house provided if they were offered standard accommodations at reasonable prices and quoted the example of Lyari Expressway in this connection.
He described three main objectives obtained from the construction of Lyari River which include rehabilitation of 15,000 families from a substandard (underdeveloped) area to a model and standard area, easing out of traffic congestion and control on environmental pollution.
He further recommended making this mass shift from Lyari riverbed to a well-planned housing town as a model for chalking out a comprehensive strategy for a low cost housing project.
In response, the delegation showed its deep interest in investing in the proposed project and assured to pay serious thoughts to the proposal.