Poland's new Housing Finance Project (HFP) is expected to expand the availability of construction and mortgage financing in the country, to introduce market concepts and competition, expand the private sector's role in housing, and reduce government subsidies. The HFP will be supported by a World Bank capital lending program and A.I.D. management and technical assistance. Provided here is a compilation of five individual reports on field assignments to help the HFP to undertake initial analyses of locally planned housing projects and to formulate operational guidelines for the design of World Bank-financed housing projects.
The first report, on legal issues, reviews the procedures, manuals, and lending documents commonly used by the National Savings Bank of Poland (PKO), the country's major housing lender. The report describes the existing legal system in Poland and the need for new laws on foreclosure and reprivatization.
The second report analyses the financial feasibility and affordability of selected projects. A strong correlation is found between ready access to municipality-financed off-site infrastructure and a project's economic feasibility. Weaknesses in the Polish construction industry are identified.
The third report carries out project affordability analyses based on terms and conditions of World Bank lending. The report notes that project developers are not capable of preparing cash flow projections and that there is a lack of market information on prospective purchasers.
The physical design of selected projects is reviewed in the fourth report, which covers site design, project phasing, design concepts, planning issues, building technologies, and competitive bidding. The fifth report provides a diagnostic review of the status of computerization in the PKO. Central systems were found to be obsolete, non-integrated, and difficult to maintain, yet progress was noted in use of PC's at the branch level.
