Decoding the progress of Naya Pakistan Housing

It all started with proceedings from the parliament. The Naya Pakistan Housing Development Authority (NAPHDA) was asked to provide an update on progress made by them in building 5 million low cost units (LCUs) for lower income groups. In response, a very long tabulation came to the conclusion that in four years all NAPHDA has to show for itself are 172,428 housing units in various projects throughout the country.. 

Except even that number is a huge stretch. 

It is not the number of housing units completed or under-construction. Let’s go section by section and then we will re-assess the performance of NAPHDA which costs the taxpayer Rs.1 billion in salaries and operating expenses per year. The  projects presented to the senate are also mentioned on NAPHDA website as Progress on NAPHDA projects which as we shall find out below is a very misleading title by NAPHDA. In this post, I will focus on section A presented in to the Senate, which comprises low cost units in urban areas. As per the list,  53,758 LCUs are to be delivered in urban areas. We will  go region by region as has been detailed in the list. 

Islamabad

The first section is Islamabad with 30,918 housing units. Only the 4,000 units of CDA Ali Pur Farash genuinely belong to the Naya Pakistan Housing Project. The rest of the projects are either rebranding existing projects or exist only on paper. The 12,500 housing units as resettlement of Katchi Abadis don’t even exist on paper. The FGEHA (Federal Government Employees Housing Authority) projects are rebranding and have nothing to do with Naya Pakistan Housing. These are simply housing units that would have been built for government employees anyways, and are not for the general public — which was the main objective of the Naya Pakistan Project. 

Let’s take FGEHA G-13. On their website, with respect to this project, FGEHA mentions “The Housing Scheme Phase-III of the Housing Authority was launched in 1996 in sector G-13, G-14/4 Islamabad. The sector was acquired through Land Acquisition Collector (LAC) under LAC act 1894. Initial development was awarded by CDA to FWO. As per PC-I approved at that time, the maintenance work of the said sector was to be carried out by CDA. Later on, in March 2015, in compliance with Wafaqi Mohtasib findings, all Infrastructure development work and maintenance work was carried out by the HA. Total No. of plots are 6695.” 

Clearly they have been working on this site since 1996. This is not the first project in this location. Earlier, FGEHA (it was FGEHF then) also launched Lifestyle Residency in G-13 which is under construction.

The point I am trying to make here is that while NAPHDA and the government like to celebrate FGEHA projects as an achievement of Naya Pakistan Housing, the reality is these have  nothing to do with Naya Pakistan Housing. FGEHA is a housing development arm (one of many) of the federal government and such projects would have been coming online without NAPHDA. That is not all. Both NAPHDA and Rana Sanaulla in parliament mention that the apartments in this project are low cost units (LCUs). The project comprises two types of units A & B.

Apparently, category A apartments which are for Grade 20 to Grade 22 officers are for Rs.1 crore and Category B apartments targeted at Grade 16 to Grade 19 officers are for Rs.90 lakhs. Two observations: one, at this price, these won’t classify this as low cost units and two, Grade 20 to Grade 22 officers aren’t the ones in need of housing. 

If we look at another FGEHA project, the Skyline Apartment, at least this one has C type units which are targeted at low income employees. The thing to note here is that Grade 18- Grade 22 officers have booked almost all the A type units (see last column – POL issued). Similarly, 80% of B type units have been booked. However, the units that are targeted at the low income employees, only one third of them have been booked. As there are separate blocks for each type of units, it is likely that the block for grade 18-22 officers will be built with all amenities while the block for the low income government employees may get delayed by years.

Outside of the FGEHA, the list presented in senate mentions the Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) project, whose coattails NAPHDA has tried to ride. This is the one and only completed project in Islamabad. Even though the project has nothing to do with Naya Pakistan Housing, Imran Khan,Zulfi Bukhari and Gen Anwar Ali Hadar showed up and cut some ribbons to make it seem like it was. 

I don’t know who was advising the PM and what were Zulfi Bukhari and General Anwar taking credit for. As per WWF, over the years, they have delivered 33,844 housing units. Another 1,508 units isn’t such a big deal for WWF as was being made here with the ceremony. 

But consider this. Under law these units cannot be owned by the workers and are only there for them to rent at a nominal amount while they work in the surrounding industries.An official of the Workers Welfare Board said on condition of anonymity that wherever houses and flats are being constructed by WWF, they have nothing to do with the Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme and the prime minister may have been kept unaware of legal matters. 

As per law, the units cannot be alloted for sale but we have the whole charade orchestrated most likely with the connivance of Zulfi Bukhari and Gen Anwar Ali Hyder of making a fool of the PM.

The only project which appears to have  conceptualized under Naya Pakistan Housing in Islamabad really is the CDA Frash Town where 4000 units of CDA (Ali Pur Farash) are under construction. As many as 4400 apartments are being built under the housing project at Farash Town Islamabad. The project is being executed by NAPHDA in collaboration with FWO and CDA.  Out of the 4,400 apartments, 2,000 will be allotted to members registered with NAPHDA. Out of the remaining apartments, 2000 will be sold out in the open market, while 400 will be allocated for the residents of ‘kachi abadis’.

However a few months ago, the CDA revised PC-I and scope of Farash Town apartments scheme launched last year for the low income group and renamed it ‘Nilore Heights’ with high-end proposed apartments. It is difficult to know of what exactly happened here. 

Is the CDA keeping 2000 units as low cost units or is it canceling them and converting all the units to luxury units? The reason cited by CDA for this appears to be that NAPHDA has not deposited the initial amount with CDA. However, something might have gotten lost when the government changed. Let’s assume that had the government remained, the entire 2,400 units as envisaged would have been delivered as LCUs.

And all of this has just been going on in Islamabad, in the very city where parliament presented this report. Thus, out of the 30,918 units announced by former PM Imran Khan and even carried out a balloting in one case, the only genuinely Naya Pakistan Housing project was the 2,400 units in CDA Farash Town and we can’t be sure of even  those units being delivered as NAPHDA hasn’t paid dues to CDA. Just 8% of the units are LCUs under Naya Pakistan Housing.

Lets  be generous. We can assume that C type units in FGEHA SKYLINE will be built, and they will be for less than Rs.3.5 million (LCU threshold as per SBP and NAPHDA) and that those wouldn’t have been built if not pushed by NAPHDA. There are 1,701 C type units  in this project. We can also assume that all 5,198 housing units in FGEHA SKYGARDEN are LCUs and same assumption as SKYLINE about pricing and NAPHDA being instrumental. There are no LCUs in FGEHA G-13. And it is fair to say that despite Zulfi Bukhari milking it to the max and even getting the PM to carry out balloting, there are zero LCUs being delivered to workers under ownership in WWF Zone V project. This is how the final result appears.

NAPHDA claimed 30,918 LCUs. Despite being extremely generous with our assumptions, the real number of LCUs being delivered is 9,299, of which 75% are under FGEHA and usually reserved for federal government employees.

Punjab 

The next section in Senate list is Punjab urban area

The first major project was supposed to be with the LDA, and took off with beating drums and festivals. The plan was to build as many as 35,000 residential apartments for its and other government employees under the umbrella of the Prime Minister’s Naya Pakistan Housing Programme.

The problem is the same one as before: Whether it’s 35,000 units or 4,000 units, the LDA is building it for its own employees or other government employees. Calling it Naya Pakistan Housing was just to provide a PR opportunity to CM Buzdar and PM Imran Khan at the time.

The LDA had a fixed price of Rs 2.7 million for every apartment which will be taken in easy instalments. At Rs.2.7 million, they would qualify as LCUs. The only question is if these houses will get built at that price. 

Projects under the Sargodha and Faisalabad Development authorities meanwhile are still having their modalities finalised — which means no work has begun at all. 

Based on the price listson FGEHA website, only 2000 and 386 units will qualify as LCUs for FGEHA Chaklala Heights and FGEHA Lifestyle Residency respectively. No details are available on RUDA LCUs.

Despite NAPHDA claiming 18,150 low cost housing units in Punjab, the above table shows that only 6,386 LCUs are under construction and that too, all for government employees. 

KP and Balochistan

Jalozai is a relatively straightforward one since 1,320 is a small amount. We don’t need to nitpick over it. Moreover, it is PTI’s home province so we can safely assume that those 1,320 are LCUs and will be built. As per the brief description of the project, it predates Naya Pakistan Housing, but since it is under PTI that it was initiated, we can count it as such.

However, the Worker Welfare Board suffers from the same problem as the WWF project in Islamabad i.e., as per SC decision, it is only for residence of industrial workers on nominal rents and not for sale and purchase. That means those 2056 completed LCUs cannot realistically be counted as Naya Pakistan Housing units. 

In Balochistan, meanwhile, the NAPHDA website mentions only Saryab colony but states modalities are still being finalised. What is surprising about this is that there is no mention either in senate list or NAPHDA website of the projects announced by the PM and reported by Business Recorder in Balochistan. This is the picture of the PM inaugurating/ground breaking 110,000 units in Quetta. Just count the number of plates on the wall.

So the whole coterie flying to Quetta, holding a huge ceremony, spending money on panaflex, plaques, etc., and announcing 110,000 housing units, was all for naught. Afterwards PM never bothered to ask his advisors what happened to all that development that was supposed to happen in Balochistan with such fanfare. Bottom line: Zero LCUs in Balochistan. 

Conclusion 

While NAPHDA may report to the Senate and on its website that 53,758 LCUs are under construction or in planning stage in urban areas, the fact of the matter is only 17,005 LCUs are under construction or in planning state. And of those, only 3,720 units are for the general public. The rest are for government servants. 

The appearance of NAPHDA appears unsatisfactory considering that senior leadership appears to have extensive operational experience (if not exactly in real estate or regulatory matters) and are being compensated very generously (see the additional allowances section for people working on secondment/deputation).