The limited impact of some ‘major determinants’ of the land market: Supply of land for housing in Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

This paper compares the supply of urban land for housing in the two major cities of Pakistan: Lahore and Karachi. Conditions for land supply greatly differ between these cities: Lahore is situated in the middle of a fertile, intensively cultivated plain, where the bulk of land around the city is privately owned. Karachi is surrounded by unused semi-desert land which for the major part is public property. In the absence of a national land policy, policies are formulated at the provincial level, so there is scope for adaptation to the differing circumstances in both cities. After a description of the practice of land supply in the two cities over the past decadees, the paper concludes that there is no basic difference between the practices, and the results, of public land supply in both cities. Apparently, neither circumstantial factors, nor the legal position of land determines, or even conditions, the policies and behaviour of public agencies dealing with land supply. Under very different circumstances, it is the same sort of interest which is being served by the practice of land supply in both cities.