AKM Fazlul Hoque

Urban housing — The public private partnership solution — a comparative study.

The rural poor flooding the cities, with no permanent homes, electricity, water, sewerage, etc, is a common problem in the developing world. The cities are becoming slums and the poor are becoming impoverished. Millions of people need billions of dollars in infrastructure and housing yet they barely have a dollar each. The public sectors of developing countries also do not have money to build this infrastructure. This is a dilemma: but public-private partnership can be a way out, with the private sector providing the capital and technology to build the houses and the public sector providing the land and amenities. In some cities, like Calcutta, it works well. In some cities, like Dhaka, it fails. This research proposal will study the experiences of Calcutta and Dhaka to see what makes the public-private partnership succeed and what makes it fail. With such understanding, we can perfect the model and make it more effective in more places.

Sometimes this public-private partnership works in urban housing in developing countries and sometimes it does not. We have to understand how to apply it properly, as billions of dollars are often involved, as well as the basic needs of the poorest people.

Bangabandhu Science and Technology Fellowship Trust