Karachi Development Authority's experience in sites and services

In 1974, UNDP helped to design the Karachi Master Plan. A two-pronged approach was used to address the chronic problem of low-income housing in the city. Under the Plan, existing squatter settlements on government land were to be upgraded. Sites and services schemes were to be developed for those whose settlements could not be upgraded. From 1974 to 1980, a total of 90,891 serviced plots were developed. However, as of 1988 only 701 plots were occupied. The main reasons for lack of occupation were speculation by middle income groups, and the lag time from the time of payment by the owners to the time of delivery of plots, which in some cases was as long as four years. The real poor, in immediate need of shelter, clearly could not afford to wait that long and were forced sell their plots to middle income households who already had shelter in the city and who could afford to wait and allow land prices to increase. In spite of this record, government-implemented sites and services programmes continue to be the main policy of the Karachi Development Authority.

Source: Aliani, Adnan, "The incremental development scheme," Masters thesis, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, 1988.