Tuesday, August 25, 2009

SAIBAN'S MISSION

Welcome to Saiban's web home.
Description of housing product/service offering: Since 1992 Siaban has been providing housing solutions to low-income and marginalized populations. The urban centres of Pakistan are bursting at the seams due to mass migrations from rural areas. Rural poor come to the cities in search of jobs. Not having access to affordable housing, these people become part of the illegal settlements through the informal sector. The squatter settlements no doubt solve the problem tempararily but leaves the low-income populations vulnderable to various forms of exploitation. With years of research, Saiban has provided various models of development for populations earning around Rs. 7000 (US$100) a month. The models we utilize are unconventional in the field of housing development. In normal practice the cycle is as follows: 1)land purchse, 2) infrastructure development, 3) housing construction, 4) residents. In our models we utilize the following segnence: 1) land purchase, 2) residents, 3) housing, 4) infrastructure development. The process we utilize automatically allows our target populations to afford the product in easy installments and provides them the realization of a life-long dream: legal title of a piece of land. Once on the land, they begin to slowly build their homes. With the minimal monthly payments, we begin to develop the infrastructure of the entire housing scheme: first water, sewerage,disposal, then electrcity, gas, paved roads. As this process continues, our social mobilization units come into action. They liaise with other NGOs and businesses to establish schools, hospitals, family planning services, micro-finance facilities, etc to help facilitate the development of a viable and viabrant community.
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Description of innovation: As you read through the various sections, you will come to see that our products and services differ from the existing programs for providing housing to the poor. First and foremost, we rake a macro-approach to the housing problem and do not focus on one area. We start with the basic right of every person to have shelter and convert it into a realisable dream. It is our screening proces, our financing mechanism, our low-cost construction advice to new homeowners, our social mobilization teams and socail support network-- and much more, that gives the 'incremental developmental housing project' its distinctive features.
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Reaching the target groups: Land prices are extremely high in our urban centers. When a housing scheme is initially announced, speculators and investors tend to purchase the plots in bulk. These investors hold onto the plots untill the values increase two-and three folds. The result is that low-income groups are always left out and large areas of land remain undeveloped for decades. We, at Saiban, have developed a four step filtration system to ensure that the target market is being reached. The first step is an appraisal form; the second step is a pre-screening verification done by one of our employees. The third step is a reception area on our site: the applicant is required to come and live in a 10'*10' unfinished room with his/her entire family and all of the belongings for a period of 7-15 days. Once this step test is passed, the family is handed-over physical posession of a 80sq.yds plot where they must start living within a period of 45 days. The fourth step of the filtration process is that the individual will not be given full title for a period of 3-5 years and must keep that as his/her primary residence for that period. These steps have proven successful in allowing us to continually benefit low-income groups.
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Contacts:
Address:
GRE-319 (2-B) Britto Road
Garden East
Karachi-74550
Pakistan
Phone: +92-21-2259049, +92-21-2259772
Fax: +92-21-2259049
Email: saiban_project@yahoo.com

7 comments:

UrbanIndiaThoughts said...

this is the best model of housing for the poor that i have ever come across.

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