Yeah that was a Nice scam.
How is it a scam?
I remember reading about it many many years ago and was surprised to find out that it actually worked very well from the start and while the designer and concept architect was still on his seat, the bureaucrat Mr. Siddiqui, I think he was chairman HDA.
It may definitely have its flaws but its the only Pioneering working model of basic, Bottom up, incremental development
housing scheme for the poorest of the poor urban homeless. Here is some detail:
Housing Development Scheme, Khuda Ki Basti, Pakistan
Cécile LACHERET
07 / 1994
Khuda Ki Basti (KKB), meaning God’s Colony, represents a pioneering attempt on the part of Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA)to solve the housing problems of the lowest stratum of the urban poor. This scheme has been developed on a site near the Hyderabad Toll Plaza, in Kotri, which stretches over 5 500 acres with a lay out for 70 000 plots. Its objective is to help the shelterless acquire legal titles to residential lots, with a minimum affordable down payment, where the families can immediately construct their houses.
Target group identification and plot allotment consists of four steps : 1/ Identification of families earning about $ 50 per month and in urgent need of housing. 2/ Selection of applicants who are lodged in two types of reception areas : an open land where the family can install a make-shift house or two rooms ’pucca’ (concrete)house with latrine and in-house water tap ; the families are kept in the reception area for a minimum period of one week. 3/ Assessment of eligibility by the HDA. 4/ The eligible families are allotted
a regular plot of 80 square yards.
The basic shelter package comprises three main components : 1/ The plot, with the availability of potable water at public transport and a W.C. with sanitary latrine. 2/ Compulsory savings in the form of a regular monthly instalment, preferably through a bank account operated jointly by designated representatives of residents and sponsors of the scheme. 3/ A bulk contribution by the residents for the desired level and type of services as per preference or priority assigned by them.
The concept of financial affordability is characterized by two main features : a minimum down payment fixed at $ 50 to cover the basic shelter package cost and regular monthly instalments of $ 2.50 to $ 5.00, based on affordability of the beneficiaries, towards the total cost of the plot amounting to $ 450.
...
...
...
The approach is also based on the
development of self employment and income generation. A Family Enterprises Scheme has been launched.
HDA has obtained a bulk loan of $ 0.25 million from the House Building Finance Corporation for improving existing house structures as well as for income-generating schemes. The loans are provided through the block organization which disburses the loans after ascertaining the needs and repayment capacity of the individual applicant.
The recovery percentage is over 95 %.
@Retired Troll and @PakSword @Farah Sohail @Realistic Change @BHarwana @Zibago @Arsalan
Most importantly:
The KKB scheme completed three years of its existence on 2nd November 1989. 3 826 plots were allotted for the KKB, out of which 2 094 have already been constructed. Under the Family Enterprises Scheme, which started in February 1989, a sum of $ 8 385 had been advanced in loans ranging between $ 55 to $ 940. This has generated employment for 117 persons (including 48 women). The rate of recovery of these loans has been over 90 %. These achievements should be viewed in contrast to the rest of the Gulshan-i-Iqbal scheme, in which, by March 1988, almost 11 600 plots had been provided by the public sector and 1 000 acres of land given to the cooperative societies : but neither construction on allotted plots nor any development scheme by cooperative societies had been initiated.
Maximum encouragement is provided to the residents to provide services and utilities for their homes on a do-it-yourself basis, particularly for sanitation, garbage disposal, electricity and even road-building. However, so far, a network of 49 500 feet of water supply lines, 18 850 feet sewerage lines and 13 500 of electricity lines have been provided in the scheme.
Regarding educational facilities, 23 schools of various levels are already functioning in KKB with a total enrollment of 872 students and 43 teachers. Health services are being provided in the area by 5 private doctors, 5 para-professionals, 2 clinics, 3 mobile clinics and an ambulance. Small-scale enterprises provide transport between KKB and Hyderabad besides government buses [...].
[...]According to the HDA, the entire scheme is self-financed.
Key words
housing financingcreditsavingsrole of the Statecommunity organizationemployment
PakistanHyderhabad
Notes
This case study is an edited version of the text which appeared in : Guidelines on Community-Based Housing Finance and Innovation Credit Systems for Low-Income Households, Bangkok, ESCAP, 1990. Translated into French, following card.
Source
Report
ESCAP=ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC, ESCAP, 1990/11 (THAILAND)
Développement et Civilisations - Centre international Lebret-Irfed - 49 rue de la Glacière, 75013 Paris, FRANCE - Tel 33 (0) 1 47 07 10 07 - France -
www.lebret-irfed.org - contact (@) lebret-irfed.org