Low cost housing in Pakistan
Encyclopedia
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, and more specifically, the trend of low-cost housing.
Low cost housing
Private-sector Low Cost Housing in Pakistan was initially based on the concept of providing housing facilitiesHouse
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
to the general public
General Public
General Public were a band formed by The Beat vocalists, Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, and which included former members of Dexy's Midnight Runners, The Specials and The Clash...
, without making enormous profits
Profit (economics)
In economics, the term profit has two related but distinct meanings. Normal profit represents the total opportunity costs of a venture to an entrepreneur or investor, whilst economic profit In economics, the term profit has two related but distinct meanings. Normal profit represents the total...
. It was pioneered by Al Azam Limited Construction Company
Al Azam
Al Azam Ltd. was a Pakistani construction company that pioneered low-cost housing for the general public. It was formed during the early 1960s by the former Rehabilitation Minister, Sardar Amir Azam, and his business associate, Muhammad Ali Khan of Rampur....
, a start-up construction company, that launched the "Low Cost Housing Society" in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
during the 1960s.
Al Azam built very low-priced residential
Residential area
A residential area is a land use in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas.Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single family housing, multi-family residential, or mobile homes. Zoning for residential use may permit...
- as well as commercial-type accommodations in Karachi and Hyderabad, using the apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
system. It managed to keep prices down, without sacrificing quality, by:
- reducing its profit marginProfit marginProfit margin, net margin, net profit margin or net profit ratio all refer to a measure of profitability. It is calculated by finding the net profit as a percentage of the revenue.Net profit Margin = x100...
; and - increasing land-use density.
During the 1970s, M.Y Corporation,Rukunuddin Construction Company and Hasan Associate come in to construction arena with a commitment to provide low cost housing and followed Al Azam's footstep. The company, which was formed by a retired overseer
Supervisor
A supervisor, foreperson, team leader, overseer, cell coach, facilitator, or area coordinator is a manager in a position of trust in business...
from the Pakistan Works Department (PWD), also introduced low-cost prefabricated
Prefabrication
Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located...
housing units, in addition to their regular low-priced apartments. The quality and safety of their units, however, were generally viewed as inferior.
Maymar, another construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
company, entered the market in the late 70s, with residential apartments and housing units that were probably the best ever built, and they were highly successful. As demand for better housing accommodation increased, Maymar moved upmarket, leaving behind the low-cost housing sector.
Construction firms, such as Cellrock and Abidi, entered the industry in the early 1980s to focus on low-cost prefabricated housing units. As the quality of their construction was substandard, these efforts proved unsuccessful, causing serious financial losses.
Companies like cooliobob and Maymar were able to evolve primarily due to the establishment of an institution by the name of Karachi Development Authority. It was entrusted with the task of making new development schemes for the city of Karachi and simultaneously the institution also established a wing by the name of Public Housing Scheme which was entrusted with the task of construction and selling finished housing in shape of flats/houses as the case may be. However since the need for housing was so much in the city that Public Housing Scheme could not have fulfilled on its own. This was the reason the Karachi Development Authority facilitated the builders like Al-Azam and Maymar with cheap lands to share its burden of providing finished housing to the people- the concept was considered noble and there was no risk of losses. However the chaos started when these cheap lands were distributed by corrupt bureaucrats to non professional builders. These corrupt and non professional builders not only damaged the industry but they also made the survival of companies making good quality housing difficult. On the other hand the Public Housing Scheme which was still succeeding in providing decently priced and decently quality housing to the city was hit hard by the collapse of utility companies who failed to provide them utility connections in time. Thus the last hope of people getting good quality housing with safety of investment also went down with the closure of Public Housing Scheme.
The construction industry began to mushroom towards the end of the '70s. Most of the new companies joined the industry merely to make a quick profit, without regards for the quality and safety
Safety
Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...
of their buildings. Monthly installments were also too costly for most of the general public. As a result of corrupt
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
administrative
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
practices, public confidence in low-cost housing projects suffered after some low-cost buildings collapsed, due to poor construction and thieving of construction materials.
Firms such as Al Azam are nowadays very rare, as most construction firms still preoccupy themselves with traditional outdated modes of construction. As the general public becomes increasingly knowledgeable and affluent, housing and construction are increasingly focusing on high -end and high-quality deluxe housing, where profits are also better. Today, low-cost housing are largely confined to remote city and town areas, and are largely managed by the government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
.