BOOKREVIEWBOOKREVIEW
6.
Urban housing issues in Asian cities
BY S.H. ZAIDI
“Urban housing policies and approaches in a changing Asian context’ Arif Hasan; Published by City Press, A-16, Safari Heights, Block 15, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Karachi 75290; First Edition, 1997, pp. 61, Price Rs. 50/
M uch information is condensed in this. bouk, which is really an expanded paper by a prominent architect about urhan housing policies es and issues in Asian cities. The sources of information are, apart from those listed, the author’s conversations with professionals, academics and representatives of international development agencies, discussions with NGO groups, community activists. dents of low income settlements.
1976 and Between the Habitat-l conference the time of writing (of the hook), governments, and International Agencies have intervened NGO’s and Inte to develop appropriate housing policies through (1) pilot projects, (2) replication of successful NGO projects and (3) changes in government planning However, the story of formal sector urban housing for low income groups is a dismal one for a variety of reasons. Institutional restructuring has not taken place and the programs of international of international agencies, which go for surveys and documentation, array of consultants, culture of affluence and funfare, and generally high standards have failed to click with most middle level bureaucrats and alienated low income communities from the ‘processes’ being fol lowed.
The author is of the view that the current hous ing crisis in the TW is related to the issue of land speculation, inappropriate urban planning con cepts and implementation procedures and the fail ure of low income communities to access the formal land and credit market. These issues have been illustrated with reference to what considered ayi to ‘highly successful programs of recent decades such as the Community Mortgage program (CMP) of the Philippines, Urhan Basic Services es Program (UBSP) of India and our own Katchi Abadi Improvement and Regularisation Program (KAIRP), KAIRP has been in operation since 1978 and aims at regularizing 2320 karchi abadis with a population of over 5.5 million plus providing water, sanitation, electricity, roads and other facilities, for which part of the cost is to be borne by the benefi ciaries through lease charges. Between 1978 and 1989, only about 14% households were regularized. The author criticires the program for having unnec essarily high standards and uprooting 35% of Katchi abadi population and blames the ‘real estate Mafia’ which enjoys the support of the pow erful political and administrative Establishment for slow pace of pace of work. Attempts are being made to model KAIRP on successful non govern mental sector work like that of the Orangi Pilot Project, he says
Real estate boum curtails housing options in TW countries for low income groups. What is the solu tion? Should we just leave things to the informal sector and the NGO’s? Only the state has the resources and the infra structure to tackle this are luft igate the market hon for the phor. If things mercy of the market forces only, the poor would ultimately be consigned permanently to slums. Practically the best viable option is the upgradation of slums, with part of the cost borne by the residents themselves
Much has been said and written against making the first world’s experience a model for the TW a countries, but the fact is that the very idea of alle viating the lot of the katchi abadis in a systematic manner has come from the first worid. And so have, in many cases, funds for the NGO’s. While Government officials often have not come up with the simple, economical and effective solutions based on local conditions and materials, let it be said in fairness that same NGO’s also have not been very honest in making of donor funds, the author has admitted that it is the informal sector that has provided much relief to the low income groups where the state machinery has failed and NGO’s have been able to reach only 10% of the tar-get groups!
While incomes have grown, the price of land, housing etc. has gone up many times faster, there by generating a supply-demand gap in housing.
There is a growi is a growing realisation that viable and self sustaining local governments is a prerequisite to the development and implementation of appropri ate housing policies and infrastructure. Despite all the talk of “empowerment’, though, local govern ments are viewed by federal and provincial legisla tures as rivals and prevented from exercising their influence. This is nowhere more true than in crisis of Karachi, currently experiencing experiencing a severe crisi housing, basic utilities and infrastructure like water, power and transportation. In combination, all these are ideal conditions for breeding social and political unrest and disorder. Unfortunately, due to corruption and lack of political will to solve problems, the federal and provincial governments. have miserably failed to grasp this simple facr! But they have nevertheless accepted informal housing as a fait accomplis. One result is the encirclement of rich localities by slums a phenomenon known as the ‘ghettoisation of the rich. Even jobs to low income groups are provided mainly by the Informal sector-75% in Karachi, 65% in Bombay etc.
Support by national governments to ‘market economy policies is making it increasingly difficult for them to look at housing in a broader perspec tive. The unequal relationship between between developers and Government officials vis a vis the poor has fur ther aggravated the plight of squatters and low income dwellers. However, the struggle to fight back against an anti-poor system is in progress, according to the author. Collectively, if not individ ually, the poor can do something to alleviate their lot. Saving groups and societies, centered mainly around women, have done much ave done much but they need NGO support to combat officialdom and pro-market trends. This would work well provided only that the NGO’s are manned by good professionals and reasonably sincere and dedicated workers.
Despite chaos at city level, conditions continue to improve at neighbourhood level due to de facto, if nut de jure, security of tenure and institutional ization of settlement and house building processes through attempts made by communities, NGO’s and the informal sector to bridge the supply-demand gap. Tables of selected relevant population and housing statistics for different Asian cities show that there have been improvements in most fields, literacy and health including, though government planners continue to view the low income income groups as ‘unaware’ and ‘backward”
According to the author, the needed institutional reforms carried out by national governments and some promoted by international agencies have been based on data collected from surveys of socio-economic conditions but do not take into account the prevailing soc socio prevailing economic trends and processes. Many of these programs and policies require trained staff but technical assistance alone. is not enough, imeraction among the officials and the NGO staff, communities and interest groups is as important. His diagnosis of the low income groups not having access to corridors of power is correct but the real problem is how this issue is be resolved in the current state of society and the Statel
afone been made in sume countries but there is no sitempt to relate this understanding larger institutional issues and planning processes. Attempts to formalize the informal sector have not succeeded. informal
The emphasis should be on accepting and sup technical and finan echnical and financial porting the informal sector and helping it over sancial constraints Even such technical inputs have failed to solve the hous ing problem of the poor by the government for the simple reason that such agenda conflicts with the interests of the ruling elite and organizational culture of the bureaucracies. Planning, which is considered a mere technical exercise should be considered as an interaction between different actors in the drama, including interest g ing interest groups and beneficiaries. The more equitable the relationship between the actors, the better the planning exer cise again, the essence of the problem is how to bring about such equitable relationship. This long drawn out process will take its own course, there is yet no sign that the elite or the bureaucracy is yielding ground to or hecoming more accommodar ing vis a vis the pourer sections of society in Pakistan.
DAWN MAGAZINE Sunday, April 4, 1999