A comprehensive housing development programme
Introduction
Urbanization in Bangladesh has progressed very rapidly and today more than 25 percent of the total population of the country lives in urban areas. Simultaneously, Dhaka now contains 40 percent of the national urban population. Existing physical and social amenities have failed to provide for even the basic needs of the majority of these people. As a result, today more than 35 percent of the people living in Dhaka City are residents of slums and squatter settlements. A large section of the lower middle income group also lives in very critical conditions. In the face of multifarious deficiencies, housing remains a most urgent need to be addressed.
With an estimated population of about 13 million, Dhaka now suffers from severe backlog of housing provisions for middle and low income population. This study has been undertaken as per directives of the then Honourable Chief Adviser of the then Caretaker Government of Bangladesh to the Nagar Unnayan Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works (MoH & PW) to guide the government in formulation of a housing development programme for Dhaka City with particular attention to the needs of the poor and low-income groups. The Centre for Urban Studies (CUS) was requested to prepare a proposal for such a housing programme. A vision for a housing programme is presented in this study, but the task of realization of specific projects must be undertaken after detail studies and with involvement of all stakeholders.
The study details a three-phased programme to meet housing needs in a planned manner for a period of 17 years, starting from a base year of 2008 and extending up to 2025. The first phase, from 2008 to 2013 will involve the delivery of the highest number of housing units (2 million) where the rehabilitation of the homeless and the squatters should receive priority. Examples of workable projects and those which may be replicated are highlighted in the study.
Nature of the problem
Some of the major housing issues are;
a. Inadequacy of liveable housing which implies the need for supply of affordable housing in a well distributed and managed delivery system benefiting all income groups.
b. The inability of the government to provide affordable land and housing to a growing population resulting in huge backlog and takeover of housing delivery system by the informal sector.
c. The housing for the low income groups particularly, is environmentally hazardous and risky for the residents.
Objective
The objective of the study was to recommend a housing development programme addressing the needs of all income groups of Dhaka city, particularly the urban poor. To achieve the stated objectives the following tasks need to be performed:
a. Analysis of existing patterns and processes of housing delivery
b. Assessment of housing backlog and estimation of future needs for the city
c. To propose a short, medium and long term implementable housing development programme for Dhaka city spread over a 17 year period 2008-2025.
Study area and population
Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan Area (DMDP) also known as RAJUK area with various administrative, statistical, or planning boundaries such as DCC, DMA, DSMA, etc. The total area within the DMDP is 1530 sq.km. while the area within DCC limits is only 145 sq.km., DMA is 307 sq.km. and DSMA area is 1350 sq. kms. Dhaka has come to be known as one of the fastest growing cities of the world. Corresponding to the population growth, Dhaka has also experienced fast physical expansion, much of it without planning guidance or control. The density is reasonably low within DMDP but outside DCC/DMA limits and varies from less than 1000 to over 8000 persons per sq. km. The future expansion of the city will be mainly within the DMDP area and also beyond.
The study recognizes the reality of the existing socio-economic structure of Dhaka City and tries to identify this structure very simplistically by a perceptually assumed income classification. Income wise the population of Dhaka city is broadly divided into three groups and some sub-groups in each group (Islam, 2004) as shown in Table 1.
Analysis of housing needs for Dhaka city
An actual housing need is based on numbers required in each type of identified categories detailed below;
a). Housing Backlog or deficit: Backlog or housing shortage will cater to provision of shelter for three groups of people;
i. The homeless or shelter-less: Housing for the homeless such as pavement dwellers and some squatters to be provided through community shelter programmes.
ii.Requirement of additional new housing: Demand due to natural increase of population is considered as additional new housing units required. This will include the following;
* Migrants/Newcomers to the city every year
* Natural growth or new families in the city
b). Housing which need replacement or relocation: Slum and squatter areas identified as illegal settlements belong to this category. Location and design for these groups of poor of Dhaka city types are recommended in most of the policy studies of CUS.
c). Upgrading and standardising: A large section of the existing housing stock belong to the informal settlement areas including slums of Dhaka city. Various techniques for informal upgrading have been recommended in the ADB TA for Land Development Policies and Procedures (1992) study for implementation by RAJUK. Innovative techniques successful in many developing third world countries can be also implemented in Bangladesh.
Housing delivery system in urban areas
The urban housing delivery system in Dhaka city develops both in the formal sector and the informal sector. Each sector has several sub sectors as shown in Figure 1.
It is obvious that a proposal for a housing development programme for Dhaka City cannot be formulated first without considering, on the one-hand the role that Dhaka plays in the economic development of the country and on the other, influence that the various economic, social and environmental factors, both national and global, have on the demographic, economic and physical growth of Dhaka. Secondly, a proposal for housing development programme for Dhaka, being also a megacity, cannot be framed without reference to the broader urban sector development policy framework and planning principles. Briefly, the basic issues in such a policy context normally include:
* The pattern and process of urbanization in the country.
* Rural urban linkages
* Migration and population growth pattern
* Economic development and employment and poverty incidence
* Land management
* Housing material resources
* Housing human resources
* Finance
* Environmental management
* Infrastructure and services
* Transportation
* Social services
* Gender Issues
* Cultural and aesthetic aspects
* Legislation
* Law and order
* Management and governance
* Research and Development
Phase-wise need for housing
Clearly actions taken by past governments to provide large scale housing have not fully supported the policies, particularly those that are pro-poor. The existing formal housing delivery systems, both public and private, have been more focused towards the high and middle income groups. The lower middle income group and growing number of urban poor have been provided mainly by the informal system. The present study projects the housing needs for Dhaka city up to 2025 and has proposed an outline of some measures to solve the massive housing need. The estimated housing requirements to be met for each income group by phase are shown in Table 3.
Recommendations
To start the groundwork for implementation of such a programme the government must, however, take the following immediate actions:
Financial Assistance: Assistance to the private sector and NGOs to provide housing at a minimal interest to the poor and lower middle income groups by public, private and donor finance institutions.
Technical support: Support to improve construction and delivery of large scale housing programmes particularly to provide low cost building technology and mass production system.
Capacity building of housing institutions: Government agencies involved in providing land and housing in Dhaka, ie, Land Ministry, DC Office, RAJUK, NHA, HBRI, all are weak in capacity and need to be strengthened.
Encouragement should also be given to cooperatives.
Policy Intervention: Implement the proposed National Housing Policy 2004 and adopt the National Urban Sector Policy and adopt measures to support urban poverty alleviation programmes, following PRSP. Land policies which support large scale public housing such as land banking, land pooling, land readjustment etc., must be brought into practice. Some specific recommendations are:
* Maximise the development potential of sparsely settled agricultural land in the vacant lands of DMDP through the advanced provision of minimum (but acceptable) levels of infrastructure and social and community services provision.
* Provide a framework and guideline which require minimum public sector intervention and advanced expenditure on land acquisition and infrastructure services provision and maximise private sector involvement in the development process with provision of a good percentage of low income group plots.
* . Influence the transformation of fringe urban and sparsely settled rural areas to an appropriate and environmentally acceptable urban structure.
* Complete the Detail Area Plan (DAP) of RAJUK's Structure Plan (1995-2015) and ensure its implementation.
Comments