Meeting housing needs of the city
Friday, 19 December 2008
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) has extended the time limit for application for its housing scheme in the two suburbs of the city -- Purbachal and Uttara-- to January 15. This is in response to the demand from a large number of potential applicants for the same who complained about insufficient time in going through the procedures of completing and submitting the application forms. More than 0.1 million forms have been already sold and the stretching of the time period would mean that a far greater number would now be provided with an opportunity to try their luck in the housing scheme as the plots would be finally allotted against the names of winners in a lottery. A large number of overseas Bangladeshis are also expected to apply for a place under this scheme along with local ones.
Thus, a good outcome is expected from this RAJUK scheme. Plots and flats offered by private real estate developers are sometimes found unaffordable by aspirant home owners. But a government-operated scheme such as that of the RAJUK has many advantages. First of all, any government-administered plan for housing usually creates more confidence among buyers than private ones. The guaranteed refund of earnest money in case of not winning in the lottery, the development of lands and construction of flats respectively within the agreed time and their handing over to buyers within the pledged period, are otherwise the hallmarks of officially-run such programmes which cannot be matched by private developers in all cases.
The other main attraction of such government-managed housing schemes is in the area of payments made by the buyers. The costs of plots and flats under a scheme of this sort are found to be below the market value. The mode of payment in long term instalments, is helpful. Buyers feel that they are striking deals which match their income, affordability and, thus, choice. Therefore, RAJUK's latest housing scheme would be welcome especially to middle income people who wish to buy reasonably decent plots but are constrained by their high costs in the private sector.
However, the presently offered housing plots of RAJUK would ultimately meet the housing needs of only a small number of people compared to the huge demand. It would be only in the fitness of things if the emphasis is given on appropriate policies or programmes in public sector or under public-private partnership, or dependable schemes in the private sector for developing plots and flats in other places in the outskirts of the city with the aim of progressively meeting this large demand. This is not to say that the private real estate companies should be gradually elbowed out of this business. They can go on with their activities and meet the residential needs of relatively affluent persons while the other schemes, preferably involving some kind of public sector initiatives, would be creating a feasible option for individuals in the middle income brackets who can neither live in shanties nor afford the costly offers of exclusive private developers.
In this context, the authorities concerned should also cast their eyes on meeting the housing needs of the ones with an existence near the poverty line or below the middle classes in status and earnings. Slums can be winded up and their inmates progressively rehabilitated in numerous low cost flats built by such authorities and sold to these people. An effective government body would be in a position to manage the whole state of things relating to construction, develpopment and sales of flats at a very nominal one-time down payment with the rest to be paid in very easy instalments over a long period of time. Here, the relevant government or public authorities would be doing this not for making instant good profits but as discharging some welfare-oriented services to the poor. But even in this welfare dispensing exercise, these bodies would be at least breaking even or making some profits in the longer run.
Thus, a good outcome is expected from this RAJUK scheme. Plots and flats offered by private real estate developers are sometimes found unaffordable by aspirant home owners. But a government-operated scheme such as that of the RAJUK has many advantages. First of all, any government-administered plan for housing usually creates more confidence among buyers than private ones. The guaranteed refund of earnest money in case of not winning in the lottery, the development of lands and construction of flats respectively within the agreed time and their handing over to buyers within the pledged period, are otherwise the hallmarks of officially-run such programmes which cannot be matched by private developers in all cases.
The other main attraction of such government-managed housing schemes is in the area of payments made by the buyers. The costs of plots and flats under a scheme of this sort are found to be below the market value. The mode of payment in long term instalments, is helpful. Buyers feel that they are striking deals which match their income, affordability and, thus, choice. Therefore, RAJUK's latest housing scheme would be welcome especially to middle income people who wish to buy reasonably decent plots but are constrained by their high costs in the private sector.
However, the presently offered housing plots of RAJUK would ultimately meet the housing needs of only a small number of people compared to the huge demand. It would be only in the fitness of things if the emphasis is given on appropriate policies or programmes in public sector or under public-private partnership, or dependable schemes in the private sector for developing plots and flats in other places in the outskirts of the city with the aim of progressively meeting this large demand. This is not to say that the private real estate companies should be gradually elbowed out of this business. They can go on with their activities and meet the residential needs of relatively affluent persons while the other schemes, preferably involving some kind of public sector initiatives, would be creating a feasible option for individuals in the middle income brackets who can neither live in shanties nor afford the costly offers of exclusive private developers.
In this context, the authorities concerned should also cast their eyes on meeting the housing needs of the ones with an existence near the poverty line or below the middle classes in status and earnings. Slums can be winded up and their inmates progressively rehabilitated in numerous low cost flats built by such authorities and sold to these people. An effective government body would be in a position to manage the whole state of things relating to construction, develpopment and sales of flats at a very nominal one-time down payment with the rest to be paid in very easy instalments over a long period of time. Here, the relevant government or public authorities would be doing this not for making instant good profits but as discharging some welfare-oriented services to the poor. But even in this welfare dispensing exercise, these bodies would be at least breaking even or making some profits in the longer run.