The government is planning to create long-term funding options for making housing facilities affordable for the lower income group of people.
“The daily payment to own an apartment under the arrangement would be Tk260 for a period of 20 years,” Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain said yesterday.
He said the government is also planning to establish new township in rural areas so the people are discouraged to come to the cities, urging all not to destroy agriculture lands for the sake of urbanisation.
The minister was speaking at a seminar on “Housing for Public Welfare” arranged by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) in the city yesterday.
He said building and high rise apartments are being built haphazardly in the city for lack of foresight among the urban planners.
Putting importance on adopting long-term development plan for making the city beautiful and livable, he said: “We should map out a plan for urbanisation like USA, UK and France which has made plan for 600 years.”
Mentioning the double-digit interest rate of housing loans in the country, he said almost all the countries in the world offer 3% interest rate in housing sector.
“It might not always be easy for low and mid-income group of people of the country to access to loan as conditions in most cases not possible to meet. They are not loan defaulters like big business groups such as Hallmark, Bismillah, Jubok and Destiny, as they pay back loans in due time.”
The minister called upon the banks to lower interest rate on housing finance with easy conditions so the poor people could have a roof over their head.
He urged the real estate developers to keep the size of flats within 1,200 square feet to bring it within the purchasing capacity of low and mid-income group of people.
DCCI President Mohammad Shahjahan Khan, chairing the seminar, said around 4.2 crore people lives in the cities as per 2011 population census and population growth in the urban areas is 5%.
“In line with this fact, civic facilities and infrastructure are not being constructed, making the cities unlivable,” he said.
Housing problems have increased manifold for the rapid growth of our population. He informed that contribution of the housing sector to the GDP is 12-15%.
He urged the government to take necessary steps for gas, water connection and electricity supply as well as financial assistance and easing approval procedures for this industry.
Professor of North South University and economist Dr Nurul Amin, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank Md Abul Quasem and Chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) Engr GM Jainal Abedin Bhuiya also spoke.