The Government of Sindh is likely to allocate 200 acres of land for construction of low-cost houses in the city soon Sources said that the plots would be allotted to Association of Builders and Developers (Abad), which would be made responsible for planning, carrying out the construction and implementation if the project.
Sources said that providing shelter to every family has become a major issue as a result of rapid urbanisation and higher population growth. According to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Housing Sub Committee report there were 482 Katchi Abadis in Karachi in 1984 but they have gone up to 1,471 in 2005.
The report further says that the present housing stock is also rapidly aging and an estimate suggests that more than 50 percent stock is over 50 years old. It is also estimated that 50 percent of the urban population now live in slums and squatter settlements.
The report has proposed that the government should allow low-cost housing schemes consisting of 20 to 25-storey buildings and housing units of 120 and 200 square yards.
The report noted that there was a backlog of 6.1 million houses in Pakistan besides annual requirement of 670,000 housing units.
The present accomplishment is only 270,000 units per annum instead, therefore, the extensive disparity is taking its toll with addition of 300,000 units every year in the backlog out of which the annual requirement of Karachi comes to 170,000 units alone.