Transcript The Role of the Private Sector in Housing Supply and

The Role of the Private Sector
in Housing Supply
and Environment Friendly
Construction Practices
in regard to the Post-War
Reconstruction Strategy
adopted by the IC
in Bosnia and Herzegovina
IMG, Otto-Roman Barnert, Reconstruction Expert and current Head of the
IMG Field Office Zenica
Recommendations based on the Achievements and Shortfalls of the Postwar Reconstruction Activities
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About IMG (www.img.ba)
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IMG (International Management Group) is an intra-Governmental
Organization with a Steering Board made up of members of the IC
(International Community) active in BiH, initially assessing the
overall war-damage and later playing an important role in
coordinating all reconstruction activities and recording these into a
unique database, known as PIMS (Project Implementation Monitoring
System)
While IMG today is also involved in additional technical activities in
BiH, such as technical monitoring of the implementation process and
Capacity Building of some of the Government Institutions, this paper
focuses on the obtained experience in monitoring the reconstruction
activities
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The IMG Housing Standards
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Following the requirement to provide a timely reconstruction
assistance during and after the war, it soon became evident that the
reconstruction assistance granted to BiH was not implemented in a
unified way, paving the way for the adoption of the IMG Housing
Standards for the reconstruction of privately and socially owned
housing units
This simplified housing standard, adopted by all IC members,
facilitated a unified damage assessment system which could be used to
calculate the required reconstruction costs to achieve these
“minimum” housing standards by assessing damage of the 4 main
construction elements; Roof, External Walls, Doors & Windows and
Internal Elements with its technical infrastructure.
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Sample Contents of these
Standards
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IMG Standards
100
80
60
40
20
0
Roof
Cat Cat Cat Cat
1 2 3 4
Structure
Joinery
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Current Situation
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The reconstruction activities in post-war BiH have focused on
maximizing the supply of housing space for “returning” refugees and
displaced persons to their pre-war homes, with limited available
funding of the IC, which led to a general decline in the applied
technical standards.
To-date some 105,000 housing units have been repaired/reconstructed
from an estimated 450,000 war-damaged units through grants of the
IC. BiH had before the war some 1,300,000 housing units for a
population of 4,4 mill.persons.
The high reconstruction demand with limited available funding per
housing unit has caused a general decline in the achieved quality of
living standards, sometimes emphasized by the use of inferior building
materials and construction details
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Adopted Construction Practices
have led to
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no external thermal insulation or plaster finishing although
temp. usually drop in winter to 15 deg. below freezing
external walls made either with materials which are under
dimensioned, or of inadequate materials, r.c.columns and lintels
remain exposed
chimneys made of inadequate materials and insufficiently
dimensioned
no consideration of the type of heating system
no consideration of adequate sewage facilities
no consideration for sewage treatment or garbage disposal
systems
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Noted Shortfalls
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the increased reconstruction effort with above stated deficiencies
have however not managed to solve the housing needs of the post
war BiH, as:
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the pre-war population can be described as having been rural with
approx. 70% of the population living outside of towns
the war reversed this situation, partly because many of the pre-war
urban people fled leaving their apartments empty for incoming rural
people to occupy them, often beyond their planned capacity
as the pre-war occupants return in large numbers, the “illegal”
occupants have to vacate the apartments and return to their pre-war
rural homes, many of which will still be damaged as only about 30%
have been repaired (as previously mentioned )
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Noted Shortfalls - continued
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the social structure of families have also changed during the last 8
years, so there are now numerous “young families” requiring new
accommodation which neither the public institutions nor the private
market are supplying
people who have lived for the past 8 years in an urban manner will
have got accustomed to the advantages of towns and therefore be
reluctant to return to a rural type of life, hence given the choice
would prefer to remain in the towns
houses in rural areas were in many cases without electricity or a
sophisticated water installation so that sewage and garbage disposal
was not considered adequately
the IC decided to “fix” the mostly “rurally located” war-damaged
houses against supporting the development of the towns as
ownership rights of existent apartments could not be solved.
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Recommending a change of
Strategy
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Stop providing grants for the reconstruction of privately
owned war-damaged houses but instead facilitate loan
packages, to:
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construct new houses and apartment blocks with improved standards
improve the building physics of the “incomplete” housing units
install environmental friendly heating systems to reduce deforestation
incorporate use of alternative energy into house designs, e.g. glazed verandas, etc.
Establishing production plants of environmental friendly
building materials to avoid aid dependency, in making e.g.:
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construction and insulation systems and/or materials as mentioned under examples
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Goal and Objective
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Provide sufficient user friendly and affordable housing
space in towns
Improvement of the technical standards by introducing
affordable and environmental friendly construction
techniques and practices
Reduction in annual heating costs by optimizing insulation
and heating systems and use of passive solar energy
Improving the environment by introducing sewage
collection and treatment, as well as garbage management
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A Possible Way Forward
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The use of environmental friendly construction techniques
and practices will largely depend on the information made
available to the civil society as well as their representatives,
which could be achieved by:
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conducting media campaigns throughout BiH by internationally
recognized organizations and experts to address:
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Local Architects, Designers and Contractors, Building Material Producers and
Suppliers
Local authorities and other Law makers
Raise public awareness in Schools and Universities
A change in the reconstruction strategies of the IC
working in BiH
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Recommendation to the IC
(International Community):
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change approach towards the support of reconstruction in BiH
instead of grants provide interest free loans to individuals who
intend to provide for their own housing needs
low interest rate loans to commercial developers (which should
keep the housing unit price low) if tightly monitored by
international experts
IC to carry the interest rates and guarantee loans
provide technical expertise and assistance as required
monitor implementation and provide on demand corrective
measures
provide training at all levels as and when required
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Recommendation to the Private
Sector:
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venture into the development of the urban housing stock
throughout BiH
establish links to internationally recognized companies in dealing
with:
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housing development
sewage / garbage collection and disposal / treatment
economical and ecological central heating systems
energy networking
establish links to companies established and experienced in
producing environmental friendly building materials to enter into
joint-ventures
re-vamp existing desolate factories to produce environment
friendly products for the local construction market
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Examples of Construction
Systems/Materials which could
be produced within BiH:
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3D building system which incorporates insulation material into
external walls for new construction to reduce import requirement
of bricks
insulation material of old glass for existing houses currently
without plaster from collected old glass within and outside BiH
coating timber roof structures with inflammable coating made of
used “nappies” collected from within and outside BiH
making briquettes locally from saw dust collected from the
numerous saw mills within BiH
making solar panels with locally available resources such as
silicium
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Recommendation to the BiH
Authorities:
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facilitate all of the above mentioned recommendations by:
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incorporate the use of environmental friendly construction
techniques, garbage management and sewage disposal into the local
building regulations
provide incentives to individuals who show interest in improving the
standard of their houses by facilitating tax reduction measures
provide incentives to private investors to develop new housing space
provide low interest rated loans to the private building industry
as an environmental friendly attitude towards development is in all
our interests, raising public awareness to be incorporated into the
national curriculum
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Main Contacts within IMG
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