The Jammu and Kashmir Housing Board’s ambitious promise of new housing colonies has today become a telling symbol of policy paralysis and institutional drift. Despite repeated announcements, identification of land parcels across almost every district, and tall claims of providing affordable housing to middle-income groups and economically weaker sections, the reality on the ground is stark: not a single meaningful housing colony has come up in recent years. The Board’s much-publicised plan has not merely slowed down-it has virtually reached a dead end. What makes the situation particularly alarming is that this failure cannot be attributed to the usual constraints of land or demand. Land is available in abundance at multiple locations. Demand, too, is overwhelming. Yet, the Housing Board finds itself unable to either construct housing colonies on its own or attract private developers to do so.
The turning point-or, rather, the wrong turn-appears to be the decision to abandon the engineering, procurement, and construction model and adopt the public-private partnership route for all future housing projects. In theory, PPP is an attractive model: it reduces the Government’s financial burden, brings in private efficiency, and ensures long-term maintenance. In practice, however, it requires carefully calibrated terms, commercial viability, and a predictable regulatory environment. In J&K’s case, the model was adopted without adequately addressing these fundamentals. The result is there for all to see. The Expression of Interest issued in mid-2024 failed to attract even a single concrete proposal. When the entire burden of financing, approvals, construction, and maintenance is placed on private players, with little flexibility and high uncertainty, the outcome is inevitable.
More worrying is what followed-or rather, what did not follow. There is no clear revised roadmap. Nobody is clear about the future course of action. A policy decision, once taken by the Board of Directors, must be backed by serious homework and a contingency plan. Every policy has its pros and cons, but in this case, the decision to go all-in on PPP without a fallback has effectively frozen the housing programme. With no proposals from private players and no plan for self-development, the grand vision of mass housing has collapsed into inaction.
This failure is not confined to the Housing Board alone. Practically speaking, none of the key urban development agencies-be it the J&K Housing Board, JDA or SDA-has delivered new housing colonies in the recent past. The vacuum created by this institutional failure has been filled by a “free-for-all” growth of illegal and unauthorised private colonies. The consequences are severe and visible. People in dire need of shelter are left with no option but to buy plots or houses in unauthorised colonies. These settlements typically lack drainage, proper roads, sewage systems, water supply and other basic amenities. During the monsoon months, they become living nightmares, with waterlogging, sanitation hazards, and increased vulnerability to disasters. What is being created today is not urban development but future slums-at a huge social and environmental cost.
At the same time, private flatted housing projects have also failed to take off in a meaningful way. Whatever limited options exist are priced far beyond the reach of ordinary citizens, often costing many times more than similar flats in neighbouring states. While cities in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh offer a range of housing choices-from affordable apartments to planned colonies-J&K’s cities struggle to offer even one viable solution.
This situation demands urgent introspection on the part of the Government. Why are private players unwilling to invest in J&K’s housing sector? Are the terms and conditions commercially unviable? Are there too many regulatory hurdles, delays in approvals, or uncertainties related to land, litigation, and policy continuity? These questions must be answered honestly and acted upon decisively. Housing is not a luxury; it is a basic human need. One option could be a partial revival of the EPC model for affordable housing. Another could be the outright sale of identified land parcels to private developers under transparent conditions, ensuring affordability obligations and planned development. What is needed is a forward-looking, pragmatic approach-one that moves beyond files and meetings to actual construction on the ground.
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