Housing Quetta
Housing is a basic need of society. There is a severe shortage of houses in Quetta district. The housing facilities are inadequate and their quality is also substandard. Most of the houses are constructed with mud and unbaked bricks, without proper toilet and drainage facilities. The houses are constructed without any planning or design and without approval of municipal corporation. In urban areas due to greater increase in population and migration from rural to urban areas the problem of houses is becoming more acute. The streets are very narrow and without street lights.
Few houses near Quetta city.
In rural areas the quality of the houses is generally lower than in urban areas, with the difference that the houses are spacious but lack proper sewerage and sanitation systems. Moreover the way of disposing of solid waste is quite different from urban areas.
Tenure
According to latest available census (1981), the proportion of owner occupied houses was 54% followed by rented houses 28%, and 19% rent free houses. During the last sixteen years the proportion of rented houses has increased while the proportion of rent free houses in urban areas declined drastically.
A wooden hut in the valley.
Construction Material
The 1981 census has pointed out that about 50% of housing units used unbaked bricks and mud, and about 30% baked bricks / stones and cement as construction material. The construction in the new housing schemes around Quetta is according to specifications such as RCC and RBC. These houses are constructed with cement and baked bricks.
Sources of Energy
The sources of energy for light purpose are mainly electricity and kerosene oil. In 1981 the proportion of population using electricity and kerosene oil for light purpose was 71% and 28% respectively. But due to rapid electrification of villages, and the provision of natural gas facilities it is estimated that currently 75% of the population is using electricity and 25% is using kerosene oil and natural gas for light purposes.
As far as the sources of cooking are concerned; gas, fuel wood, dried bushes, animal dung, cylinder gas and piped natural gas are used. In the recent past, natural gas through pipe line has been supplied to Quetta Cantonment. Now, almost all the residents of urban areas are using piped gas as main source for cooking. This is evident from the 4,126 gas connections. According to the 1981 census, 75% were using fuel wood, 17% animal dung 8% kerosene oil and 5% cylinder gas. It can be inferred that the percentage of piped gas and cylinder gas users has tremendously increased while the percentage of fuel wood users has decreased due to the high price of wood and availability of cylinder gas. In rural areas animal dung, fuel wood and dry bushes are still used as fuel. The use of gas is increasing in rural areas.
Housing Characteristics
In urban areas most of the houses have a guest room, toilet, kitchen, separate bathroom and a small courtyard. In newly constructed houses attached bathrooms with flush system are an important feature. In the rural areas the guest rooms are more spacious than other rooms, similarly the courtyards are very wide and small bathrooms are normally attached to a room. Toilets are without flush system, in open air. Qualitative improvement in the recently constructed houses can be seen in and around the city.
Drinking Water and Sanitation
The estimated population of Quetta District in 1995 was 676,941. According to Public Health Engineering Department authorities (PHED), 75-80% of the rural population is getting benefit from water schemes. The facilities cover 88 points / places. These points are the most densely populated areas of the district. In the urban areas almost everyone has access to water supply facilities. However, there is acute shortage of water in and around Quetta city.
There is no data available to show the percentage of houses using flush system. However, flush system in some form is present in the urban areas. In recent years some international donor agencies have financially and technically assisted the community in some of the rural areas of Quetta district for the improvement of sanitation, particularly the toilet system.