Evaluation of construction, marketing and management in housing delivery by a private developer: evidence from Papua New Guinea

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Providing quality, affordable and adequate housing in urban areas has been a long-standing challenge for the governments of most developing countries. This paper reports on a study of the activities of a private developer in the construction, management and marketing of houses in the vicinity of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It also describes the challenges faced by the developer, the coping strategy employed and a potential strategy that can be used to promote private sector participation in housing delivery. The data were obtained from face-to-face in-depth interviews that involved the directors of Edai Town Development Limited (ETDL) and were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results revealed that ETDL has an effective development framework and that it had built 144 houses. The sales price of the houses ranges from 294,800 PNG Kina (89,333 US$) to 803,000 PNG Kina (243,333 US$). However, low-income households might find it difficult to afford the houses. The results also revealed that ETDL had established different types of basic infrastructures and had introduced an infrastructure maintenance strategy. Some of the challenges faced by ETDL include the high cost of building materials, shortages of land with proper titles and skilled labour and lack of trunk infrastructure. The coping strategy used by ETDL included providing and managing the infrastructure in its housing estate, training workers on the job and the constructing house types that are in high demand. To promote private sector participation in the delivery of housing, the government should provide trunk infrastructures where they are lacking. The government should encourage small and medium enterprises to produce materials for constructing houses by providing them with opportunities to access loan facilities and training. More vocational schools should be established for training people in professions such as bricklaying and carpentry. The findings can assist urban development managers and policy-makers in developing a strategy for increasing the supply of private sector housing.