A Case Study of the OPP-RTI : Localising Habitat Agenda Research Project (Draft)
Pakistan is a poor country. According to the UNDP Human Development Report 2002, its Human Development Index (HDI) rank is 138 out of 173 countries. Poverty is also increasing in Pakistan. In 1987-88 it was 17.6 per cent and in 1998-99 it was 36.2 per cent. According to the Human Poverty Index, 44 per cent of the population of the country is currently living below the poverty line. It has low literacy figures, bad governance and almost 60 per cent of its urban population lives in un-serviced or under-serviced informal settlements. A number of government programmes, often supported by loans and advice from International Financial Institutions (IFIs) for improving social and physical conditions in these settlements have been initiated but none of them have been able to meet their objectives or to prevent the development of new informal settlements. Karachi is Pakistan’s largest city and has a population of about 12 million. More than 50 per cent of the Karachi population lives in squatter settlements or katchi abadis as they are called, and the formal sector is able to meet no more than 30 per cent of the city’s housing demand. Government programmes for katchi abadi regularisation and improvement, as in the rest of Pakistan, have had very little success in the past because of an absence of community participation, inappropriate engineering and planning standards, excessive costs coupled with shortage of funds, increasing dependence on foreign loans and the resulting culture of corruption and patronage.
Download the full report here: A Case Study of the OPP-RTI : Localising Habitat Agenda Research Project (Draft) [PDF, 3.5 MB]
