Housing Ziarat
PTDC Motel at Ziarat.
Tenure
With the exception of Ziarat town, which accounts for approximately five percent of the district's population, most of the rural population lives in its own houses.
Construction Material
With the exception of Ziarat town, over ninety percent of the houses are "Kacha" i.e. thatched. Here and there semi- Pacca houses are also seen, but they constitute only a small percentage of the total. The roofs are slanting and made of tin. In Ziarat town, most of the houses are Pacca or semi-Pacca.
Sources of Energy
Cooking: Firewood is the principal source of energy for cooking. Animal dung is used along with firewood. LPG (gas cylinder) is also used, and is in good demand. Both firewood and gas cylinders are very expensive, and are not widely available. Therefore, there is a widespread demand for extension of Sui gas up to Ziarat town as that will provide cheaper and abundant well as heating and also help reduce the out-migration that is forced by winter.
Lighting: Electricity is the main source of lighting in Ziarat town and the rural settlements along the Quetta-Ziarat road. Approximately 50% of the district’s households have access to electricity. Gas cylinders and lanterns are also used as are kerosene lamps.
Housing Characteristics
Housing characteristics vary from place to place. In the hilly parts of the district, the houses are scattered, of a small size, mostly rectangular, and fully covered by a tin roof. In the plain area, the houses are relatively bigger, with separate bedroom, sitting room (Hujra), store, cattle shed, and front/back yard.
Firewood transport on donkey
Drinking Water and Sanitation
Drinking Water: Clean drinking water through PHED schemes is available to inhabitants of eight localities, where the number of people benefited is reported (by PHED) to be only 13,000 which is 24 percent of NIPS estimates of the districts total (1996) population. The percentage would be nearly half that much if the Union Council’s estimates of total population were accepted. The PHED schemes are based on springs & wells, mostly the latter. The population not served by PHED schemes draws drinking water from wells and karezes. On the whole the drinking water availability situation is not satisfactory.
Sanitation: The majority (over 95%) of the houses has pit-latrines inside which are meant mainly for women and children. Men go outside, and each household has a specific place for this purpose i.e. to serve as a toilet in the field. A small number of houses in rural areas, and most houses in Ziarat town, have flush latrines.
In the villages there is no drainage system. For disposal of bathroom water, a pit is dug outside the house, while the other waste water is simply dumped out in the street.
In Ziarat town the sanitation situation in better as compared with the villages. As stated above, most houses have flush latrines. Besides, a drainage system also exists for disposal of waste water. But the overall sanitation situation is not satisfactory, and it gets chaotic during the summer season when tourists come to the town in large numbers.