Across the globe, countries are currently going through a housing crisis. Both buying and renting decent homes has become expensive. Millennials are especially finding it difficult to come across affordable living spaces today. On the other hand, there are a large number of people moving towards cities to pursue an urban lifestyle. This influx of people has led to a scarcity of houses, which in turn has resulted in a rise of property prices everywhere.
The housing crisis is even worse in developing countries. They usually have a large percentage of low and middle-income populations. Many of these people migrate to urban centres from small cities or towns in search of opportunities. While they try to maintain a comfortable yet affordable lifestyle, the cities keep growing at a rapid pace. The rate of this expansion is so fast that many governments find it difficult to keep up with the provision of basic facilities that are necessary for the residents.
Given the above discussion, we can easily quote the example of Pakistan. However, the current government has taken the initiative, keeping in view the drastic housing crises faced by the country over the past few decades. Known as the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme (NPHP), under this scheme the government aims to address the country’s housing shortfall and provide affordable homes to those in need.
What is NPHP?
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan initiated the NPHP soon after he came to power. The purpose behind this scheme was to construct five million affordable homes for those who deserve them. It did not take long for this initiative to catch the public’s interest. Considering there is a shortfall of 10 million houses in Pakistan, it is no surprise that people saw the appeal in NPHP; however some questions still remained.
Recently, Zameen.com, the country’s leading online property portal, interviewed Mr Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed to clarify various issues pertaining to NPHP. Rasheed is currently serving as the Punjab Minister for Housing, Urban Development, and Public Health Engineering. He is considered as one of Pakistan’s leading political experts and a renowned grassroots politician.
How is NPHP Different and Realistic?
It is not the first time that a government has promised to provide better housing facilities to the people of Pakistan. Yet, the country is still facing a crisis that is only getting worse with each passing year. So it is not surprising that some people are asking how NPHP is any different from other similar initiatives of the past.
Rasheed stated that this is the first time that a government has prioritised the housing crises at a national level with this much scrutiny. He revealed that the PM was heavily involved in making NPHP a successful venture – having already chaired over a dozen meetings on the subject.
PM Khan has constituted special task forces in all the provinces to implement NPHP. Rasheed said that these task forces include various experts including developers, architects, and engineers.
In response to the question of how realistic this housing scheme would be, the minister admitted that it would be quite a difficult undertaking. However, he added, that it was not impossible. He explained that the involvement of the private sector would play a massive role in the programme’s completion and that the government was creating incentives to attract investors from that segment.
He stressed that the PM was continuously monitoring the progress of the programme to ensure that all the relevant departments were working diligently for its implementation. Rasheed added that even though the initial phase of planning might be difficult, if they continued with their current attitude and pace then people would slowly begin to find the idea more practical; it all just depended on its execution.
What is the Progress of NPHP?
The progress of NPHP may seem slow to some people. According to Rasheed, this was because they needed to fulfil several necessary elements first to truly realise the full potential of the project and ensure its transparency. He mentioned that the authorities involved had to take care of legal formalities and similar technicalities prior to initiating the construction of the houses.
Talking about the tangible progress of NPHP, Rasheed revealed that one of their first steps was to identify a land bank across the country. He added that so far they had identified 200,000 kanals of land, and that the relevant departments had already started feasibility studies on these properties.
The minister said that the government was also working on creating a financial model for the project – one which maintains the factor of affordability. He revealed that the model will involve loans for the common man, and that they had partnered with the Housing Building Finance Company (HBFC), Bank of Punjab, and Al-Meezan Bank for this purpose.
NPHP and Slums
One major issue facing many developing countries are the large communities of people living under decrepit conditions in every major city. Thus, NPHP won’t really be successful in providing decent and affordable homes if it does not aim to facilitate the people living in these slums first.
Rasheed revealed that they already had a sub-committee working on this problem. He explained that the plan was to either move these homeless people to an alternate location equipped with all the necessary facilities they may need, or to build a residential tower over the existing slums. He also indicated that private developers had shown an interest in undertaking this significant project.
Meanwhile, the government also planned to develop smart cities in the provinces. Similarly, they will be focusing on the provision of rural housing to prevent excessive migration to major cities from small towns and villages. Rasheed revealed that they aim to develop 50 houses in each village of Punjab.
Hurdles Faced by the Government
Like any other significant project, NPHP does not come without its own problems. Rasheed mentioned that one of the biggest hurdles they faced was the significant lack of investment from the banking sector in terms of affordable housing. He added that the government was currently making efforts to remedy this situation.
Additionally, he revealed that they might face a shortage of bricks for the construction of these affordable houses, as brick kilns remained closed during the monsoon season. To resolve this issue, the government is currently working on implementing innovative methods like model/pre-fabricated homes. Rasheed said they were in talks with various industries and companies to make this possible. However, he added that there is an issue of maintaining costs with such technologies.
Finally, it was worth enquiring about how the government planned to continue with the NPHP venture beyond its tenure. In response, Rasheed said that the plan was to make the initiative successful and result-oriented enough so that no future government would even consider scrapping the programme. He added that they aimed to complete a significant part of the project within their own 5-year term, and also urged the private sector and the citizens to play their part in resolving the national housing crisis.
