LOW COST HOUSING DEMONSTRATION PROJECT GHATKOPAR, BOMBAY
Prakash M. APTE
THE PROBLEM
Housing in Bombay, continues to be far too short in supply than demand. The struggle to find some solution to bridge the widening gap between demand and supply seems to be unending. The professionals are aware of the complexity of the problem. The continued influx of people from surrounding towns and villages aggravates the situation. Millions of urban poor “live” with this problem. For them surprisingly the housing need is not of prime importance, because with very poor incomes they cannot even afford many “essentials” of life. Sky-rocketing rents, pugree system, speculations and such other aspects have made owning a house/flat in cities like Bombay extremely difficult even for the middle and high income people. The poor cannot even imagine that they can even have a house of their own in Bombay.
WHY LOW COST HOUSING?
If we are to serve these poor who constitute 75% of the urban population we need to build houses at costs as low as Rs.4,000 to 6,000/- all inclusive, so that the burden on the people in terms of down payment or monthly instalment does not exceed their paying capacity. At low incomes such as Rs.300 p.m. the paying capacity towards rent or installment for a house is generally considered as Rs.20 to 30 (Max.10% of income). If the all-inclusive cost is not brought down to be repayable by such monthly installments, then an allottee belonging to economically weaker section may find it still beyond his reach, even with HUDCO’s very low rate of interest at 5% p.a. and payment period of 20 years.
HUDCO is constantly searching for means of lowering the costs of construction. For lower the costs of building, the greater the number of houses that can be built with available resources. This is Hudco’s commitment-more houses for more people, and cheaper houses within the reach of the urban poor.
HOW TO ACHIEVE LOW COST?
HUDCO’s past experience has shown that economies in housing projects in general can be achieved through:
(1) Maximisation of land to get optimum density consistent with desirable living environment.
(2) Building designs that are simple and functional.
(3) Innovative building designs that are generally single/double storeyed facilitating easy access to public open spaces and community facilities.
(4) The use of austere, cheaper and substitute building materials and new building materials and techniques.
HUDCO’S ROLE
HUDCO has been advocating to the various housing agencies in the country, the use of new materials and technique, economy specifications, etc. for lowering the costs of construction in projects aided by it. To a great extent, a number of HUDCO assisted agencies have achieved cost reduction in projects through such innovative planning, designs and new building materials and technique.
However, mere advocating the use of raw materials or techniques developed by research institutes and elaborate descriptions about the merits of a new system can achieve little and arouses a feeble response from public housing agencies.
WHY A DEMONSTRATION PROJECT?
The materials/methods developed after several years of research, tested in the laboratories need to be demonstrated for their repeat potential, and acceptability for wider applications.
These considerations motivated HUDCO to undertake demonstration projects for real low cost houses and try out new materials and techniques through careful project planning and management at every stage of construction. Such ventures need the cooperation of public housing agencies.
EFFORT IN AGRA
HUDCO successfully completed the first demonstration project at Ghatwasan, Agra with the enthusiastic cooperation of the Uttar Pradesh Housing & Development Board. The all inclusive cost of a dwelling unit using new innovative building materials/technique, design and planning was only Rs.3900/- requiring a monthly instalment of Rs.25/- only to pay off the entire amount in 19 years at 5% rate of interest.
The repeat potential and the demonstration effect of the Agra project has been evident when about 6000 houses have been completed in U.P. by various agencies based on the Agra model.
THE PROJECT AT GHATKOPAR: MUMBAI
The success at Agra echoed in the response from housing agencies of three major urban centres, Bombay, Hyderabad and Ghaziabad for taking up similar projects for housing & urban poor. The keen interest shown by the Government of Maharashtra helped HUDCO to decide a site for the demonstration project at Pantnagar, Ghatkopar, Bombay through the Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority. In Bombay, where low cost housing is almost synonymous with multi-storeyed apartments/flats, because the land is so scarce and costly, it was a challenge for HUDCO’s team of young architects & engineers to design and implement a low rise housing project within a cost of Rs.8000 per dwelling unit!
HIGH RISE HIGH DENSITY VS. LOW RISE HIGH DENSITY DEVELOPMENT
After detailed studies of the previous housing efforts for the urban poor, HUDCO has come the conclusion that one of the basic difficulties which most low-cost-housing projects in the country face, stems from the misconception that in urban areas, in order to achieve the optimum use of the available land multistoreyed housing is a must!
Multistoreyed buildings; apart from requiring lifts and other services, make it obligatory to use scarce and costly materials like cement & steel and need skilled labour for construction. While in contruction of simple ground + one storeyed load bearing structures, there is scope for use of un-skilled and semi-skilled labour and even self-help. Multistoreyed buildings do not really help in lowering the cost of construction.
HUDCO’s experience indicates that densities as high as 200 dwelling/Hect. In single storey construction are attainable, without sacrificing environment.
THE DWELLING UNIT
A house is not merely a structure of walls, doors and windows and a roof overhead. It is a ‘home’. Working within the limitations of high cost of land, acute housing shortage and other problems peculiar to a metropolitan city like Bombay HUDCO decided to build a low-rise-high-density project and thus provide more houses for more people.
Ghatkopar Project: Plan
The design evolved by HUDCO is simple and functional. Each tenement has a plinth area of 15.76 sq.mt. and has a multipurpose room 2.8 x 4.1 mt. inclusive of a cooking alcove. Each unit has an individual toilet. “Self-contained block/flat” is the dream of every houseless person in Bombay and this design conforms to that hope. The accommodations provided has the possibility of adding extra storage shelves below and above the staircase according to the occupant/s individual needs.
Cross ventilation, for each habitable room, which is most essential for hot-humid coastal climate of Bombay, has been made possible through an innovative concept of staggering blocks of 8 tenements (Ground + one storeyed block). This staggered arrangement combined with the use of single-stack plumbing system has helped to reduced cost of development works such as laying of sewage lines and services, etc.
LAYOUT PLAN
The concept of layout planning makes a provision of small open spaces and community courtyards. The smaller open spaces forming front courtyards for the 4 ground floor units and giving approach to the 4 first floor units, are protected on three sides by walls. This arrangement will help develop social interactions between households around each courtyard.
These small spaces between blocks as well as the central open spaces within the cluster are safer for children to play and yet be closer to home to be watched by their mothers. The courtyards have the scope to absorb a spill over of a multitude of activities for the elderly, retired ones to get together in the evenings and gossip, grey haired grand fathers to gayfully watch their mischievous grand-children, industrious house-wives to leave jam and pickle jars in the afternoon sun, etc. The enclosure formed by walls around three sides provide partial privacy for this space and limits the activities from spilling over to the approach roads.
A total of 512 tenements and about 20 convenient shops are provided on this small piece of land measuring 1.36 hectares. A density of 374 dwellings per hect. has been achieved while attention has also been paid to create a built environment through providing flowering shrubs and trees in the cluster open spaces.
CHOICE OFMATERIALS
The choice of cost saving new materials, technique adopted in this experimental project are of a special interest to all professionals. Materials for some important structural components are described below. Other specifications are indicated in the building plans.
PRECAST HOLLOW CONCRETE BLOCKS FOR LOAD BEARING WALLS
The blocks are light in weight and thinner than the thickness of conventional 9” bricks. The size and weight of each block facilitates faster construction of masonary work. As these are made of concrete the surfaces can be left without plaster.
PRECAST R.C.C. SOLID PLANKS FOR FLOORING
The system has been developed with a view to economise on the use of cement and steel which are scarce and costly materials of construction.
The precast plank, partly 5 cms and partly 2.5 cms thick, floor/roofing system is lighter in weight, uses lesser cement and steel compared to a conventional R.C.C. slab and does not need centering and shuttering. The system is cheaper and quicker in construction. The units are durable and light in weight for manual handling. The plans are laid over partly precast RC beams. The beams with in-situ concrete form the slab and flooring is done directly over the planks.
PRECAST R.C. ‘L’ PAN UNITS FOR SLOPING ROOF
In this system, cladding and purlins are both combined into one unit thereby achieving saving in materials, cost and time.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this project at Pantnagar is intended to demonstrate that if not everything, something is certainly possible. This is a demonstration where ideas and ideals have been tempered by the demand of action. It may be labeled as “compromise”. It may not satisfy an idealist, yet the result should be judged as the consequence of a conscious design of working within limitations of givens but not as a lack of ability to grasp the complexity of the task of housing the urban poor. This is an experiment in how economically, how fast and how much we can build.
( This article is based on the project designed by the Author as Chief of HUDCO)