3.

Government Approaches to the

Bangladesh Housing Problem

Urban squatting is a symptom of a number of funda-

mental problems that have resulted from economic devel-
opment policies in a country. Rural development programs
designed to augment agricultural productivity too often have
concentrated upon those who already have access to the
necessary factors of production. thereby distorting rural
income distributions. Income distributions skewed in favor
of the rural rich as against the poor result in the concen-
tration of land holdings among the fortunate few and lead to
an exodus to the cities by the landless.

National development programs designed to give priority

allocation of resources to industrialization. a traditional
urban-based activity. result. if successful. in significant
differences in income levels between urban and rural areas
and lead to a migration of the rural poor in search of a
better life. Rapid urbanization reduces the prospect of
orderly urban development. with almost inevitable de-
ficiencies in the provision of urban services. infrastructure
and housing. or areas where low-cost. self-built housing can
be constructed. If such industrialization development
policies fail. those who have responded to the prospect of
increased opportunity in the urban areas are abandoned to
survive as best they can.

The existence of squatting. then. seems to be an almost

inevitable accompaniment to the "development process". If
development policies succeed in raising incomes. squatting is
no more than a step on the way to individual fulfilment in
the urbanization process. If the development process

47
C. L. Choguill, New Communities for Urban Squatters
© Plenum Press, New York 1987
48 CHAPTER THREE
flounders, the squatter may become a fairly permanent
fixture in the urban environment.
This chapter examines the development of housing
policy in Bangladesh and the array of constraints upon
finding a solution to the housing shortage that existed in the
country. These constraints are the scope of the planning
system, the perpetual shortage of finance and the attitude of
decision-makers and other elements of Bangladesh society
toward the housing problem.

PLANNING TO MEET HOUSING NEEDS IN PAKISTAN

1955-19'10
Long before the ultimate separation of East from West
Pakistan, the Pakistan Planning Commission was concerned
about the housing situation in the divided state. At the
same time, however, very little was actually done about it.
The First Five Year Plan 1955-1960 allocated Rs. 861 million
(US $181 million) for town improvement, construction of new
refugee colonies, development of plots and self-help housing
and for government office buildings. A few settlements for
displaced persons were constructed, mostly in West Pakistan,
but also near Dhaka in what was then East Pakistan.
However, as the Second Five Year Plan report candidly
admitted, there was a significant shortfall on all physical
targets set by the First Plan except within the area of
government office construction where the target was grossly
exceeded. As the Second Plan report states with respect to
sector performance (Pakistan Planning Commission, 1960, p.
321), "the policies proposed for the public sector were not
observed, the programs were only incidentally followed and
the priorities were confused because of uncoordinated
implementation by the several departments concerned with
the programs".
Recognizing the serious nature of the housing shortage
within the country, the constraints posed by high con-
struction costs, the rising demand resulting from rural-to-
urban migration and the changing family structure, the
Second Plan proposed the creation of 300.000 plots to house
homeless displaced persons and others from low income
groups (Pakistan Planning Commission, 1960, p. 325). It
was recognized that even this magnitude of effort would not
succeed in closing the gap between the supply of and