Chaudhary Ghulam Rasool Cheema is an informal developer in Faisalabad. His family came from Gurdaspur in India and lived near a village on Jaranwala Road. He has been a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and later of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Cheema`s first job was as a Water and Power Development Agency (Wapda) storekeeper.

But he entered the real estate business because his meagre salary was not enough to support his big family. To launch his business, he sold a tract of land that he had in his village which is situated about 20 kilometres away from Faisalabad. He chose to work along the Jaranwala Road because the people of the area knew him because of his political activities.

He planned his first housing scheme in 1990but work on it started in 1994. Up till now, he has completed five small schemes, each with 70 to 150 plots. The size of the plots is usually live marla [1,361.25 square feetj and the measurements are 30 feet front by 45 feet depth. The streets are 20 to 28 feet wide. He raises the streets two feet above the road level.

If the streets are not raised then people do not buy the plots because they are afraid that the settlement will get flooded.

The earth-work for the streets is done by the Afghan is who have trolleys and jack machines for this job. Local people do not do this work since they have no experience in it and no machinery either. For setting up his business, he employs two persons as office staff. However, he hires a number of `field workers`. These field workers contact prospective clients, prepare layout on site and supervise earth filling.

When a project begins, he usually has about 20 field workers who provide forms to the clients at 10 rupees each. If they sell 10 forms in a day, they earn 100 rupees. For the advertisement of a scheme, a pamphlet is prepared and is given in newspapers inviting young middle-school or matric-educated boys to come and work as field staff. These boys go to the areas which are congested or where people do not have their own houses.

They brief them about the scheme and try to convince them that they should buy a plot.

Most of the boys who respond to Cheema`s ad already have experience in this field. They are given a further incentive of a commission for each plot that they sell. The planning of the scheme is done by Cheema himself, after which the sketches are provided to a draftsman for further development. The draftsmen who work for him are Faisalabad Development Authority (FDA) employees and are hired by him on a per-job basis. The most important criterion for the purchase of land for the scheme is the availability of transport, which means access to the main inter-city road, and electricity. If the land is more than two kilometres from the inter-city road, the scheme does not sell.

There is no attempt to develop corner plots or commercial plots. It is simply a five marla subdivision. In the smaller schemes, Cheema provides no services such as water, sewerage or electricity. People acquire water by hand pumps, which they later convert to piston pumps, sewerage through self-help (it invariably disposes into a canal) and electricity through lobbying with Wapda.

The developer does not keep any plot for speculation but 30 percent of the plots normally remain unsold for a period of three to four years. There is a written agreement with the person who purchases the plot and proper records of receipts of instalments paid are maintained. People invariably pay regularly by coming themselves to Cheema`s office.

For the transfer of land from the landowner to Cheema, both parties visit the divisional headquarters where land records are kept. Here they pay the legal as well as `other` charges. In the revenue department ledger, land remains as agricultural and streets and roads are recorded as amenities. The cost of transfer of land to the developer is borne by the purchaser.

When Cheema started his business in 1990, he had to look out for people who wanted to sell their agricultural land. Now that people know that he is in business and has an office where plans are displayed, landowners come to him themselves. Wherever he develops a scheme, he puts up a board on which the name, plan and details of the scheme are given.

Cheema says that the success of these schemes lies in the fact that the developers have understood what a poor man can afford to pay and they act accordingly. He also says that if the government could support this activity and provide the developers some loan, then in two to three years` time there would be no one left in Faisalabad who was homeless.