RAFAH & KH-YOUNIS RE-HOUSING PROJECTS

Transcription

1 RAFAH & KH-YOUNIS RE-HOUSING PROJECTS FOR 842 FAMILLIES ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION SERVICES DEPARTMENT UNRWA-GAZA FIELD RE-HOUSING PROGRAMME

2 BACKGROUND Large numbers of Palestinian shelters have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the intifada in all areas of the Gaza Strip. Under UNRWA s emergency Re-housing Programme one of the main focuses of its emergency appeals - the Agency has pledged to re-house all refugee families who have no alternative accommodation. This however depends on the provision of funds by the donor community and the donation of land by the Palestinian Land Authority. The Agency s statistics indicate that by October 2004 a total of over 2,200 households, belonging to 3,900 refugee families approximately, had been destroyed or damaged beyond repair in Gaza Strip. 3,329 refugee families were assessed to be in need of re-housing assistance. In response to this crisis situation, the Agency has established a Re-housing Division within its Engineering and Construction Services Department in Gaza on 14 July The task of this Division is to implement an effective system to re-house the affected families as quickly as possible within the available funding resources, considering all requirements of housing according to a defined criteria. STATISTICS & ACHIEVEMENTS OCTOBER 2004 CONSTRUCTION Reported Eligible Cases Re-housing Achievements AREA NO. OF DWELLING UNITS TO BE RECONSTRUCTED NO. OF AFFECTED FAMILIES NO. OF AFFECTED PERSONS NO. OF DWELLING UNITS ALREADY RECONSTRUCTED OR UNDER CONSTRUCTION NO. OF BENEFITING FAMILIES NO. OF BENEFITING PERSONS SOUTH 2,555 2,746 15, ,793 MIDDLE , NORTH , TOTAL 3,101 3,329 18, ,533

3 RE-HOUSING PROGRAMME DEMOLITION VIEWS COM-GEN INSPECTS DEMOLISHED HOUSES DEMOLITION VIEW FOLLOWING IDF INCURSION DEMOLITION VIEW FOLLOWING IDF AIRCRAFT SHELLING Objective PROJECT DESCRIPTION The specific objective of the Re-Housing Programme is to provide alternative housing to refugee families already found eligible for such assistance overall Gaza Strip i.e., families who have had their homes completely demolished or damaged beyond repair by the Israeli Army and have no other housing unit to which they could move. As shown in the previous table (overall housing requirements/unrwa achievements Gaza Strip), over 2,300 housing units are required to re-house over 2,400 refugee families. The land on which these housing units will be constructed has not been allocated yet in a total figure, but the Palestinian Land Authority has committed itself to providing the required land.

4 Coordination with Beneficiaries The objective of the programme cannot be achieved without the involvement of the families to be re-housed. Therefore, meetings are held between the beneficiaries and the Agency s staff of both the Engineering and Construction Services and the Relief and Social Services Programme departments. In these meetings, the design, the possibilities of extension and all other related issues are explained to the refugees. Before a meeting takes place, the Agency reviews the needs and concerns of each family and prepares solutions, whenever possible, in advance. Beneficiaries can express other concerns, such as their future neighbors. Re-housing As Integrated Part Of UNRWA Overall Programme Especially Considering Social Components: One of the major problems of relocation is that the families lose their social environment in addition to their house. Therefore re-housing in case of relocation has to consider creating partially new social communities. Re-housing (with relocation) creates new suburban communities in many cases. The Re-housing programme has to take the basic needs of the community into consideration. The flexible design allows for incorporating shops, workshops to ensure income generating opportunities in these new communities for the refugees. Such facilities are provided with no additional cost to UNRWA. How is it possible to achieve this without additional costs? The answer is in the change of design of the buildings. Savings are possible through the use of better building technologies, standardizing construction items and the use of relatively unknown structural systems in the Arab world but used in most developed countries such as load bearing wall systems and others. Therefore, improvements are possible with reduced costs.

5 Coordination with the Palestinian Authority Coordination between UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority on the issue of re-housing of the refugees who have lost their shelters as a result of Israeli military operations has been intensively pursued since these demolition activities first started, ultimately leading to the signing of MOU by the two sides on the re-housing of refugee families who have had their homes demolished and are unable to secure alternate housing. Continuation of such coordination between the two sides is an essential requirement for the success of the Programme. Design The concept of the design was developed by a team of architects and structural engineers. Throughout the design process, the architects were encouraged to come up with new ideas considering all housing requirements. Several trials were made, in which the architects were motivated to study and investigate each element of the design in terms of its suitability and functionality. Considering the large number of shelters demolished, it was clear that the design criteria first adopted by the Agency had to be revised in order to lower the cost of the dwelling units and reduce the land requirements, taking into consideration the limited land available for such projects in Gaza Strip. Under this project, the Agency will adopt the amended criteria, which was jointly developed by the staff of the Agency s Re-housing Division within the Engineering and Construction Services Department and the Relief and Social Services Programme Department. The new criteria allow accommodating extended families (first parental line related families) in one multi-storey building (one flat for each family), instead of offering a separate housing unit for each family.

6 No. of Persons Type of Intervention bedroom + Kitchen + Bathroom (Type A1) bedrooms + Kitchen + Bathroom (Type A2) bedrooms+ Kitchen + Bathroom (Type A3) 8 and above 4 bedrooms + Kitchen + 2Bathrooms (Type A4) N.B. *One bedroom is added to a single parent living with the family. *The addition of 1 bathroom to Type A4 dwelling units is one of the technical improvements implemented in these projects. Features of the Design: -All Housing Units have the possibility to be extended. -Housing Units with one floor or two floors will be extended mainly vertically. -Cutting down cost while improving quality of the housing units. -Reducing land requirements in response to land scarcity. -Providing solutions to the social problems due to relocation. -Providing solutions to combining families in one house (three level buildings) with different number of rooms in each level, taking into consideration the social needs like old or handicapped persons without violating UNRWA criteria. -Allowing for multi-storey buildings up to 3 floors for extended families. -Using functional corridors with no waste spaces (cost reasons). -Independency of staircase within the whole system where it can be added or omitted when necessary. -Only two flights staircase to be used (cost reasons). -Developing grid structure system to reduce cost and ease the construction process. -Applying module system to comply with the design criteria to allow for easy extension. -Suitable orientation for direct ventilation and daylight; extension has to be possible without influencing ventilation and daylight. -Openings of windows and doors not to obstruct the possible furnishing of the rooms. -Providing private and separate entrances at ground level from the other upper levels. -Better focusing on the specific needs of families for example providing space for washing machine. -The design has to allow adding sanitary and kitchen facilities for the extensions and connecting them to the existing plumbing system and sewage system in the house, so no earthworks will be necessary for future extensions.

7 Criteria for land use : Accommodating families (extended or related) into apartment buildings and the different size of the families do not allow for defining a standard plot of land for all housing units. It is however possible to define plots of land to be used for different houses. The Agency s Re-housing Division has managed to establish a clear criteria as suitable and as just as possible. As there is no fixed land size, the main criteria for the land usage depend on the number of levels and maximum rooms to be built per shelter level. PLANS 2 ROOMS UNIT 3 ROOMS UNIT 4 ROOMS UNIT 5 ROOMS UNIT TYPE: Five rooms + Kitchen + Bathroom +Toilet Facility -Bed room(01):13.32 m2 -Kitchen :08.82 m2 -Bed room(02):16.65 m2 -Bathroom :04.00 m2 -Bed room(03):13.32 m2 -W.C :02.65 m2 -Bed room(04):16.20 m2 -Bed room(05):18.00 m2

8 ELEVATIONS Rear Elevation:shows the unit at ground level Front Elevation:shows the unit at Two levels 3DModel shows the concept of the design

9 KH-YOUNIS RE-HOUSING PROJECT Khan Younis Re-housing Project comprises four phases, including one school. -Land size : 69,800 m2 Total No. of Dwelling Units: 345 Phase (1): Construction of 63 Dwelling Units. Phase (2): Construction of 57 Dwelling Units. Phase (3): Construction of 86 Dwelling Units. Phase (4): Construction of 139 Dwelling Units. Construction of Al Fakhari Prep. Girls School. Construction of the first 120 dwelling units, comprising the first two phases of the project, has been completed. Within the first two phases of the project, 83 Dwelling Units were handed over to the beneficiaries on 15 September 2003, and the remaining 37 Dwelling Units on 25 January The third phase of Khan Younis Re-housing Project which consists of (86 Dwelling Units) was completed on 9 May 2004 and the Dwelling Units were handed over to the beneficiaries. Phase (4) and the School are under design, but they are still unfunded. The required land for this project was allocated by the Palestinian Land Authority. Stage Activity Phase (1 & 2) Phase (3 ) A Preparatory studies & Preliminary investigation 15 July November July June 2003 B Design Period 22 Oct Dec June June 2003 C Tendering Stage 1 Dec Feb June July 2003 D Implementation Stage 27 Jan Nov Sep May 2004

10 CONSTRUCTION The staff of the Agency s Re-housing Division in Gaza prepared the tender documents relating to this project. Local contracting companies (Palestinian owned) registered with the Agency and/or the Palestinian Contracts Union in the Gaza Strip were invited through newspaper advertisements and notices posted on notice boards at the Agency s installations throughout the Gaza Strip to tender bids on the contracts for the construction of 206 dwelling units covered by the three phases. The three relevant contracts were awarded to the lowest bidders following the Agency s procedures. Value engineering process and resulting achievements: The Khan Younis Re-housing Project is the first project in Gaza using value engineering techniques. The main goal is to achieve technical and overall improvement and at the same time lower cost per unit. Khan Younis Re-housing Project Cost Reduction Table Project Cost$ / M2 Cost per Average Housing Unit Khan Younis Re-housing Project Phase ( 1 ) Khan Younis Re-housing Project Phase ( 2 ) Khan Younis Re-housing Project Phase ( 3 ) $185 $16,237 $184 $16,035 $176 $14,873 N.B: The above figures represent the direct pure construction cost. Example for improvement: Adding one more toilet for the four rooms dwelling unit. Example for Technical improvement: Using U-shape blocks under the roof slabs and for boundary walls, and therefor reducing time, costs and introducing new technology to the local market.

11 RE-HOUSING PROGRAMME KHAN YOUNIS RE-HOSING PROJECT SITE VISITS DURING CONSTRUCTION COM-GEN INSPECTS A DWELLING UNIT DURING CONSTRUCTION FECSO EXPLAINS CONSTRUCTION WORK TO DUO/G ON SITE R.P.M EXPLAINS WORK DETAILS TO DUO/G & DOTS ON SITE CFRSSP & R.P.M WITH DUO,G & D/DUO,G ON SITE Support and motivation by the Commissioner-General and the Director of UNRWA Operations/Gaza to the Engineering Department Re-housing Divison shows beneficiaries the high priority given by the Agency to help the homeless families.

12 Direct BENEFICIARIES The 221 families, comprising 1,194 persons, who were offered new dwelling units instead of their demolished shelters, are the direct beneficiaries of the project. Indirect The project has also generated urgently needed job opportunities for workers in the building trades and among local manufacturers of building materials and fittings at a time when unemployment in the Gaza Strip is extremely high as a result of the current crisis. Construction of the 206 new dwelling units and the infrastructure works have generated a total of approximately 100,000 man-days of temporary employment. In addition, newly graduated architects and engineers received training and a chance to get work experience under the UNRWA job creation and training programmes. FUNDING Contribution (USD) Donor Construction Infrastructure Component Component IDB 852, (For the Construction of 49 Dwelling Units) 226, $ Norway 671, (For the Construction of 40 Dwelling Units) 156, $ Japan 459, (For the Construction of 26 Dwelling Units) 110, $ U.S.A. 1,572, (For the Construction of 91Dwelling Units) 706, $ TOTAL 3,556, $ 1,199, $ The fourth Phase of this project, which is estimated to cost US$ 1,800, for the construction component and US$ 370,000 for the infrastructure component, is under design and still un-funded.

13 RE-HOUSING PROGRAMME PROJECT VIEWS DWELLING UNITS IN THE FINISHING WORKS INAGURATION CEREMONY FOR HANDING OVER THE FIRST 83 DWELLING UNITS AT KHAN YOUNIS RE-HOUSING PROJECT COM-GEN CUTS THE TAPE COM-GEN HANDS THE KEYS OF THE DWELLING UNITS TO BENEFECIARIES

14 Rafah Re-housing Project Rafah Re-housing Project comprises five phases and a school as shown on the site layout the next page: Land size : 114,392 m2 Total No. of Dwelling Units: Phase (1): Construction of 64 Dwelling Units. - Phase (2): Construction of 33 Dwelling Units. - Phase (3): Construction of 103 Dwelling Units. - Phase (4): Construction of 121 Dwelling Units. - Phase (5): Construction of 108 Dwelling Units. - Construction of Tel El Sultan Elem. & Prep. School. Construction of the first 97 dwelling units, comprising the first two phases of the project, has been completed. These 97 Dwelling Units were handed over to the beneficiaries on 18 September The third phase of Rafah Re-housing Project which consists of (103 Dwelling Units) was completed on 15 August 2004 and the Dwelling Units were handed over to the beneficiaries. The construction of Tal El Sultan Prep. Girls & Co-ed School was completed on Work on Phase (4) of this project is progressing well and will be completed by the end of this year. Phase (5) of this project is under tendering. The required land for this project was allocated by the Palestinian Land Authority Stage Activity Phase (1 & 2) Phase (3 &4 ) A Preparatory studies & Preliminary investigation 15 Aug Nov Jul Aug B Design Period 5 Aug Jan Jul Nov C Tendering Stage 16 Sep Feb Aug Jan D Implementation Stage 7 Nov Aug Feb Dec. 2004

15 CONSTRUCTION The staff of the Agency s Re-housing Programme in Gaza has prepared the tender documents for this project. Local contracting companies registered with the Agency and/or the Palestinian Contractors Union in the Gaza Strip were invited through newspaper advertisements and notices posted on notice boards at the Agency s installations throughout the Gaza Strip to tender bids on the contracts for the construction of 321 dwelling units covered by the four phases. The four relevant contracts were awarded to the lowest bidders following the Agency s procedures. Statistics regarding the Cost reduction achievements Project Cost/M2 $ Cost Per Average Housing Unit $ Rafah Re-housing $ $ 21, Project Phase (1) Rafah Re-housing $ $ 19, Project Phase (2) Rafah Re-housing $ $ 15, Project Phase (3) Rafah Re-housing $ $ 12, Project Phase (4)

16 Direct BENEFICIARIES The 346 families, comprising 1,811 persons, who were offered new dwelling units instead of their demolished shelters and over 1,300 pupils are the direct beneficiaries of this project. Indirect The project has also generated urgently needed job opportunities for workers in the building trades and among local manufactures of building materials and fittings at a time when unemployment in the Gaza Strip is extremely high as a result of the current crisis. Construction of the 321 new dwelling units, the school and the infrastructure works generated a total of approximately 150,000 man-days of temporary employment. In addition, newly graduated architects and engineers received training and a chance to get work experience under UNRWA job creation and training Programmes. Funding The four phases and the school where funded by generous donations from the following donors : EHCO Norway Belgium Italy IDB USA Unearmarked contributions. The fifth Phase of this project, which is estimated to cost US$ 1,634, for the construction component and US$ 546, for the infrastructure component, is under tendering and will be funded by the following donors: Canada Spain IDB Unearmarked contributions

17 RE-HOUSING PROGRAMME TEL ES-SULTAN PROJECT AT RAFAH CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS The school under construction The school under construction

18 RE-HOUSING PROGRAMME TEL ES-SULTAN PROJECT AT RAFAH CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS Dwelling units under construction Dwelling units under construction

19 CONSTRUCTION of school For Rafah Re-Housing Project, a School was needed to serve the 462 families who will live in this project

20 RE-HOUSING ON PRIVATE LANDS Using the same design concept and due to the scarcity of land in Gaza, the Agency has allowed the construction of Dwelling Units on lands provided by the beneficiaries or in the place of the demolished shelter. For both cases, the long term security situation is checked and certified that the new dwelling units will not be subjected to future threats of future demolition actions by the Israeli military operations. Statistics and Achievement in Re-housing at privet lands and on some location Area No. of Dwelling Units already constructed No. of Dwelling Units under construction No. of Dwelling Units under design Rafah 3 17 Kh-younis 5 - Middle Area 26 - North Area