ISLAMABAD: While new citizens continue to pour into Islamabad, city managers seem to have fled to high ground and left common citizens to drown.
The gap between demand and supply of housing units in Islamabad has been increasing with every passing year, creating a severe bubble in housing prices and land values.
Meanwhile, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has miserably failed to address the housing needs of lower and middle segments of the city’s population. Unofficial figures based on a 2011 Census Department housing survey and recently-released details of units provided by the CDA and private developers suggested that there is a shortfall of nearly 90,000 housing units.
According to the 1998 census, Islamabad’s population was 800,000. This has since risen to over two million, according to recent estimates, largely due to migration from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
According to CDA estimates, since its establishment the authority has provided only 50,000 housing units. The authority also estimates that private land developers added 80,000 housing units in the last 10 years. Similarly another 70,000 housing units have been added in unplanned areas. The CDA planning wing says each housing unit is estimated to accommodate seven individuals. Using this base estimate, the CDA planning wing puts the housing shortage at 90,000 units. Internews
