Housing in Bangladesh
Housing in Bangladesh
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Uttama Barua, Shams Uddin Al Azad*, Sultana Rajia and Ishrat Islam1
Uttama Barua, Shams Uddin Al Azad, Sultana Rajia and Ishrat Islam (2014). A Conceptual Proposal
for Low-Income Housing in Bangladesh: An Alternate to Slum. Bangladesh Res. Pub. J. 10(2): 175-185.
Retrieve from http://www.bdresearchpublications.com/admin/journal/upload/1410022/1410022.pdf
Abstract
Bangladesh is a densely populated developing country which has one of the
lowest land-person ratios in the world with high land price. Unfortunately, budgetary
constraints prevent low-income people from the basic right of adequate and
affordable housing, which results in rapid growth of slums without tenure-ship.
Although slums lack: accessible utility facilities, proper hygienic sanitary and
drainage facilities, and accessible community serv ices; the low-income residents
have to pay high rent for the liv ing area and high rate for illegally managed
serv ices.
The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) undertook several housing programs
throughout the country, generally in government khas lands, in order to rehabilitate
the local low-income families, which unfortunately ended in failure. So it is required
to find more practical approach to prov ide adequate and affordable housing for
low-income people in a more efficient way. For this purpose, a hypothetical area of
Dhaka city (Satarkul) was considered, which cov ers about 549.42 acres area. Firstly
target group was defined on the basis of affordable income (BDT 6,000 to 10,000).
Then different categories of dwelling units were designed on the basis of per-person
space requirement (30sq.ft to 50sq.ft per-person). Combining these dwelling units
with different common facilities (toilets, kitchen, veranda, and community space)
according to standard, different housing blocks were designed. After that, land-use
plan for the area was prepared on the basis of land-use planning principles of
Detailed Area Plan (DAP). Then project implementation and cost recovery process
was planned including: proportion of housing for rent and sale, selection of
beneficiaries, cost estimation, collection of fund for construction, management
during construction work and cost recovery of developers and of the project.
Finally management of the area after project implementation was proposed. Thus,
GoB can replicate this project in khas lands to prov ide affordable housing for low-
income people with necessary corrections and adjustment.
Key Words: Low-income people; Adequate and affordable housing project design;
Project implementation, cost recovery and management.
Introduction
Housing is one of the five fundamental human rights. An adequate housing must at least
have legal security of tenure, availability and accessibility of services, materials, facilities
and infrastructure for health, security, comfort and nutrition (utility services such as safe
drinking water, sanitation etc, community facilities such as educational institutions, open
space, market place etc and other essential services), affordability (financial costs
associated with housing should be at such a level that the attainment and satisfaction of
other basic needs are not threatened or compromised), habitability (adequate space
and protection from elements of nature), cultural adequacy (appropriate way of
construction, use of building material and policy support) (UN-Habitat, 2009; RICS, 2010).
Bangladesh is a densely populated developing country which has one of the lowest land-
person ratios in the world with high land price (Nawaz, 2004; Saha et al, 2012). So, housing
shortage is a common scenario here which is resulting in high cost of housing. Again,
affordability level (proportion of the income of people which they can spend for housing
purpose) is low for the low-income group of people in this country (NRC, 2009). So, they
cannot cope with the increasing cost of housing. As a result, they have to live in slums
compromising accessible utility facilities, proper and hygienic sanitary and drainage
facilities and accessible community services, paying high rent for the living area and high
rate for illegally managed services (Khatun et al, 2012; Islam et al, 2009). The government
undertook housing programs throughout the country in order to rehabilitate the local low
income families, such as the Bhasantek Rehabilitation Project in Mirpur and Dattapara
rehabilitation project in Tongi (Begum and Amin, 2012). Unfortunately, these projects
could not produce the desired outcome in terms of affordability, cost recovery, etc. and
ended in failure (Nawaz, 2004). So it is required to find more practical approach to
provide affordable housing for low income group of people in a more efficient way for
which social-housing is a good solution. Social housing refers to rental housing which may
be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a
combination of the two usually with the aim of providing affordable housing for those
unable to afford full market costs, where facilities and sanitation are simple and
communal (Payne, 2010). In this regard, this study aims at formulating project for providing
adequate social housing for low income people, with a framework for im plementation,
cost recovery and management. For study purpose, a hypothetical site in Dhaka city was
selected, which is Satarkul, assuming that the site is a property of Government of
Bangladesh (GoB).
Methodology
Satarkul was selected as the study area because it is located in the eastern fringe of
Dhaka Metropolitan (DMP) area. It falls in Spatial Planning Zone (SPZ)-12 of location-10 of
Detailed Area Plan (DAP) (RAJUK, 2010). From the north it is bounded by the Badda-Beraid
Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) road, from the south by Eastern
Housing Aftabnagar Project and 200 ft Purbachal Road, from the east by the proposed
200ft road and west part road of Balu Riv er and from the west by Badda-Satarkul
community. The study was conducted in the year of 2012. Firstly, a physical survey of the
site was conducted in order to familiarize with the existing condition of the site as well as
the surrounding area. Data on the people of the surrounding area, such as, demographic
and economic condition (source of income, household composition etc), amount of
retention area, present land-use etc. were collected from field survey, Dhaka City
Corporation (DCC) ward maps, DAP and other secondary data source. The project site
has an area of 549.42 acres (TROYEE, 2009). In the DAP, the area is proposed to be
planned as an urban residential zone preserving the retention ponds area of 65.93 acres
(RAJUK, 2010). The existing population surrounding the site is 78,589 and the gross density is
143 persons per acre. About 80 percent of the people have monthly income below 10,000
taka. So, it can be said that, the people living in surrounding area are of low income
group (RAJUK, 2010). Occupation and affordability of the low income group of people of
the surrounding area were the prime considerations while planning. Firstly, different
categories of dwelling units were designed on the basis of per capita space requirement
which ranges from 30sq.ft to 50sq.ft per person (Payne, 2010). Combining these dwelling
units with different common facilities (toilets, kitchen, veranda, and community space)
according to standard different housing blocks were designed (GoB, 2008). After that,
land-use plan for the area was prepared on the basis of land-use planning principles of
Detailed Area Plan (DAP) combining the housing blocks along with roads and community
facilities (educational institutions, health facilities, mosque, bazaar etc) design. Then
project implementation and cost recovery process was planned reviewing some case
studies of India, which includes deciding: proportion of housing for rent and sale, selection
of beneficiaries, cost estimation according to LGED and Public Works Department (PWD),
collection of fund for construction, management during construction work and, cost
recovery of developers and of the project. Finally management of the housing area after
project implementation was proposed.
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A Conceptual Proposal for Low-Income Housing
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Table 7: Estimated number of building blocks along with population in each sector
Block type Number of blocks Population
A 78 16,224
B 40 8,320
C 14 5,376
Total 132 29,920
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A Conceptual Proposal for Low-Income Housing
industries, NGO’s and government organizations will be selected for building up their
colony (Government of Rajasthan, 2009).Along with the application for the houses the
applicants may apply for agricultural land or pond for fishing or for shop in bazaar
according to unit requirement of households. Then they will be selected by drawing of
lottery.
Cost Estimation
Hoek-Smit (1998) found that cost of construction for simple construction/multi-family
housing is BDT 650 per sq. ft. when land is free. REHAB (2012) discovered price hike of
construction materials is a big issue in construction sector. Considering price hike and
inflation, construction cost is BDT 1500 for the study. From interview of engineers of LGED it
is found that per square ft road construction cost is BDT 150. The total cost of the project is
showed in Table 11.
Table 11: Total cost for project implementation
Cost Amount (BDT)
Cost for housing 1496,25,39,000
Cost for road network 106, 80, 72,480
Cost for facilities 251,06,76,000
Total cost 1854,12,87,480
After calculation, the selling price of each housing unit is found between 2 lakhs and 5.6
lakhs taka, which are nearly within the range of affordability of the target group (Table 1).
Construction Work
The construction work will be done through public- private partnership where construction
work will be done by private developer and GoB would act as a facilitator. The selection
of private developers will be done through a transparent bidding process. The developer,
offering the maxim um number of lower income group flats in government colony free of
cost to the GoB would be awarded the project. The land would be allotted free of cost to
the selected developer. The layout and specifications including the design of the
affordable houses to be built would be approved by the GoB or its designated
implementing agency. The developer may not modify the plan in any way during
construction. A tripartite agreement between funding providers, bank and development
agency should be done for the facilitation of the release of the fund to the developeras
per the progress in construction.The expenditure on all internal development works
(community facilities) will be borne by the developer only for which they will get profit. If
the developer fails to complete the project within the stipulated period of time, project
period could be extended by 6 months without penalty but beyond 6 months, extension
would be considered on payment of penalty (Government of India, 2007; Government of
Rajasthan, 2009).
Cost Recovery of the Provision of Community Facilities
In REHAB Fair 2005 the member organizations stated that real estate developers were then
are earning on an average at 10-15% as the market has become highly competitive. In
this study, it is assumed that the developers will demand 10% profit for providing road
network and community facilities. Adding the profit, total cost to provide road network
and community facilities became BDT 393,66,23,328. So to pay them the cost, it is decided
to give them some blocks to build house themselves and to make profit from the houses
(Table 12). But they are bound to build and provide housing to the middle income and
upper middle income group of people to maintain balance in the project area, where
income range of middle and upper middle income group is 10,000 to 12,000 and 15,000 to
20,000 respectively (Hoek-Smith, 1998).
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A Conceptual Proposal for Low-Income Housing
The design and layout on the blocks or plots can be done by the developer. According to
REHAB (2010) per square foot selling price of apartment in Mohammadpur is BDT 4500.
Due to locational and spatial characteristics per square foot apartment selling price is
assumed BDT 4000. So, for cost recovery 3.08 percent of the total land and 15.76 percent
of the residential land is needed to be provided to the developer. From the table the
requirements are shown along with cost recovery (Table 12).
Cost Recovery of the Dwelling Units
Building would be built by the private developers and it is assumed that they would sell it
with 10% profit. In order to pay the money, possible residents would take loan from banks.
There exist many housing schemes for low income groups all around the world. Such as,
Government of Rajasthan provides 5% of interest subsidy for housing of low income groups
which leaves 8% of interest payable by the loan borrower (Government of Rajasthan,
2007). Banks take the apartment or building as mortgage for the loan. Government can
adapt this kind of scheme for low income groups of Satarkul. If the interest rate is 5% the
amount of monthly installment of the beneficiary, who would bought the house taking
loan, would be BDT 850 to BDT 2,500. The range matches with the affordability level of the
target group (Table 1). It will require twenty three years and ten months to pay the total
loan (Table 13). In case of rental housing range of rent per month per household is BDT 500
to BDT 1500. Both of these are within the affordability range of the target group. It will
require highest twenty three years for cost recovery (Table 14). Here monthly installment is
calculated by “present value of an annuity method”.
Table 13: Cost recovery of dwelling units for sale
Selling price
Payment Payme Interes
Area (constructio
Block (BDT) nt per t rate Duration of
Category (sq. n cost+10%
type per sq. month of payment
feet) profit)
feet (BDT) bank
(BDT)
1 86.25 1,42,313 10 863 5% 23 Y, 10 M
A
2 150 2,47,500 10 1500 5% 23 Y, 10 M
1 115 1,89,750 10 1150 5% 23 Y, 10 M
B
3 200 3,30,000 10 2000 5% 23 Y, 10 M
C 4 250 4,12,500 10 2500 5% 23 Y, 10 M
construction adjusted for inflation. Again, some uses should be restricted for the area to
maintain the livable environment and these are: commercial (office) uses, industrial uses,
heavy industrial uses, mixed use, etc. The monthly payment of installments should be
managed by the government at least for thirty years, as it is expected that the project will
get self-sustainedwithin this time. The industries, NGOs and Government organizations that
have colonies in the area, should be responsible for the collection of rents from the salary
of the employees who are residents of their colonies (Government of Rajasthan, 2009).
About 87.37 acre area within retention low lying area and front yard are designed to be
utilized for agriculture purpose and about 65.93 acre of retention pond for fishing purpose.
A group of 20 people would be given 1.46 acre of land for cultiv ation and to form small
holding firms. Small holding firms are quite productive and provide more employments
(Fan et al, 2013). This will create employment opportunity for 1200 persons in agriculture
sector. Retention ponds are scattered and diversified in size. For maintenance and
cultivation of fish a group needs to be formed for each pond. Number of people in each
group differs according to the size of ponds. On an average0.59 acre of pond area
should be given to one person. Thus 1500 people will be engaged in fishing. Integrated
rice-fish firming and will be good choice for land use pattern (Joffre, 2010). Local
government organization and NGO will conduct and maintain the whole process (Dev,
2012).
Conclusion
Thus the requirements of adequate housing with availability and accessibility of services,
materials, facilities and infrastructure (utility services such as safe drinking water, sanitation
etc, community facilities such as educational institutions, open space, market place etc
and other essential services), affordability (within the level of financial costs associated
with housing), habitability (adequate space and protection from elements of nature) and
cultural adequacy (appropriate way of construction, use of building material and policy
support) through social housing can be attained for the low-income people, ensuring
proper implementation, cost recovery and management of the area. The main limitation
of the study is that, a hypothetical site is considered for the study which does not
represent or may not match with the real life scenario. But, GoB can undertake low-
income housing projects in khas lands to provide affordable housing for low-income
people following the methodology of this study with necessary corrections and
adjustment.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the entire batch 2008, Department of Urban & Regional
Planning, BUET, especially Md. Imtiaz Rahman for helping the authors in collecting
necessary data for the study.
References
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), 2012. Population and Housing Census 2011.
Community Report, Dhaka Zila, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Planning Division,
Ministry of Planning, Government of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
Begum, J. A., and Amin, I. I., (2012). Low Income Housing in Dhaka City Vasantek
Rehabilitation, World Review of Business Research, 2(3),78-99.
Dev, S. M., (2012). Small farmers in India: Challenges and Opportunities, Indira Gandhi
Institute of Development Research, Mumbai. pp 8-14.
Fan, S., Brzeska, J., Keyzer, M. and Halsema, A., (2013). From Subsistence to
Profit:Transforming Smallholder Farms. International Food Policy Research Institute,
Washington, DC. pp 6-10.
Government of Bangladesh (GoB), (2000). Metropolitan Open Space and Wetland
Conservation Act, Bangladesh gazette.
Government of Bangladesh (GoB), (2004).Land Development Regulation for Private
Residential Projects, Bangladesh gazette, Ministry Of Home and Public Works, pp.
892.
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A Conceptual Proposal for Low-Income Housing