Photo : Collected
Owning a house or a piece of land in Dhaka city is probably the greatest aspirations of individual families, who form the city’s current population of over 16 million people. But some 65 per cent of these families live in rented dwellings of various types. And the costs of rented premises have been far outpacing the growth in income of households.
House rent in Dhaka was found increased more than 24 times in 2007-8 compared to 1973-74. House rent has only gone on rising sharply without a pause since that time. Similarly, land prices as well as of apartments offered by developers in the city have skyrocketed in contrast to couple of decades ago. Thus, even for those in the middle-class bracket --who earn on average one lakh taka per month-- owning a house or a piece of real property has become like chasing an unrealistic ambition.
All of these hard facts of life were stated in a publication sometime ago by Power and Participation Centre (PPRC), a non-governmental organisation. The gist of it were published in a report in a daily newspaper although these are hardly new revelations to the non-privileged ones in the city who are compelled to pay a lion’s share of their earnings on rents only.
No easy solutions are in sight for the problem is mainly tied up with inflation. The current rate of officially estimated inflation in Bangladesh is near double digits whereas the private but reliable estimates are notably higher. Till inflation can be kept on a leash over the long haul while economic growth, earnings and savings of people are allowed to increase significantly over time, this chasm between the demanded price of real property and the ability to buy them by ones who are not super rich, will not be bridged.
Meanwhile, the government may opt for some stop gap measures. It can increase the activities of the government operated House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC) to help the extension of its activities among a larger number of clients. More important would be the HBFC scaling down its interests charged on loans to a substantially lower amount.
As a government body with public welfare in mind, it should not be so commercially operated but with the spirit of functioning only a little above the break-even point to maximise not profits but welfare. HBFC itself can perhaps acquire long term loans at nominal interests from the World Bank (WB) and other international agencies for boosting its resources. It should also provide loans to buy lands.
Messenger/Sun Yath
