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NOVEMBER 2008

 

 

ISSUES:

 

 

 

 

Coastal schemes and the KSDP

By Arif Hasan

 

IN the last three years, various proposals have been floated for the development of upmarket real estate and elite recreational facilities along the Karachi waterfront.


These include the DHA Waterfront Development Project along 14 kilometres of Clifton beach and waterfront areas in the DHA jurisdiction. The project also involves reclaiming 74.5 acres of land from the sea.


Work on the DHA Waterfront Project has already begun. Sugarland City on 65,000 acres of land and with an investment of $68bn involves real estate development on reclaimed land and along the beaches of Hawkesbay, Sandspit, Manora and Cape Monze. Another project that has been floated is Diamond Bar City on Bundal and Buddo islands at the mouth of Korangi Creek.


All over Sindh, concerns regarding these projects have been voiced by citizens, NGOs, community organisations from lower-middle-income areas, fishermen’s associations and schools. These concerns have to do with ecology and the environment, and issues related to socio-economic degradation, heritage and human rights. However, these various lobbies do not have an agreed view on the future of the coastal areas. There are those who want the beaches to be left as they are and those that want development but in a manner that promotes a better socio-economic and physical environment. Then there are those who have not thought about it and those who oppose any government initiative on principle.


In the opinion of this writer, the beaches will be developed whether one likes it or not. The pressure of the real estate lobby, interests of global capital and the vision of the politicians as to what the city should be will make sure of it. However, the future will be disastrous unless institutional arrangements are put in place to guarantee aesthetically pleasing and environment-friendly development based on principles of equity and justice. This can be achieved if the interests of the stakeholders of the coastal areas are protected and promoted in any future development.


The first and most important stakeholders are the flora and fauna of the region. The livelihood of the fishing communities and the fishing industry as a whole depend on it. It has already been devastated by reclamation from the sea and of mangrove marshes and mudflats. It desperately needs to be protected for no city that destroys the ecology of the region it is situated in is sustainable. The South Asian tsunami gave ample proof of this and so did the flooding of Karachi, much of which is the result of reclamation from mangrove marshes, creeks and natural drainage channels for elite real estate.


The second most important stakeholders are the fishing communities whose history of over 5,000 years is recorded by archaeology and whose earliest written folklore dates back to the 11th century. The livelihood of these communities depends on the flora and fauna of the coastal area and its creeks. DHA development projects along Gizri Creek have already deprived them of their traditional sources of livelihood and related facilities. The Sugarland and Diamond Bar projects as they have been conceived will impoverish and evict them from their villages and fishing areas.


The third interest group comprises people from all over Pakistan who visit the beaches of Karachi and the services sector that serves them (such as hawkers, camel and horse owners, performers, palmists and seashell sellers). The beaches are the only multi-class, multi-ethnic public spaces left in a recreation-and entertainment-starved Karachi. Many hundred thousand men, women and children visit them every week and the number is increasing. The real estate projects as they are structured will deprive the people of Karachi and visitors to the city of most of this public space. The fourth interest group consists of landowning individuals, village communities and agencies, many of whom do not wish to be a part of these projects.


The interests of all the groups can be protected if the provisions of the Karachi Strategic Development Plan (KSDP) 2020, which was approved by the city council in December 2007, are followed. However, one thing is clear: if these provisions are followed then the DHA Waterfront Development, Sugarland City and Diamond Bar City cannot be built as they have been planned.


It is therefore important to look at some of the more relevant provisions of the KSDP 2020. In Section 4.8 of the plan it is stated: “Reclamation along any section of the seafront either on the landward side or the bordering sea would not be advised. The same restriction holds for the mudflats, marshes and backwater creeks, which [can] in no way be allowed to undergo artificial morphological change detrimental to the existing hydrological environment.”


And again: “The coastal sea and its backwater and creeks provide … livelihood to fishing communities who live on the coast. The fisherman must enjoy free access to their traditional grounds in the sea, backwaters and creeks. For any development to be sustainable and acceptable, the historical rights of the communities to the sea and the coastal village land they occupy ought to be respected.”


In the same section the KSDP 2020 talks about environmental and socio-economic provisions. It states: “The coast must be protected as an environmental asset, and environment quality, including reduction of pollution of the coastal zone must be improved. Green turtle sanctuaries and [the] mangrove ecological system along the beach, in the backwaters and creek[s] must be preserved and measures against [their] degradation should be urgently taken to control pollution.” And again: “The seashore and the beaches should be preserved and promoted as public assets. Public access to the beaches and the coast must remain free and unhindered, and to keep [sic] the enjoyment for … general citizens, no development should be allowed in land area upto 150 metres from the high-water mark.”


The KSDP 2020 also talks about “a programme to promote the seashore and beaches as a public asset”. It also accepts the concept of real estate development along the waterfront but in these terms: “Together with [the] coastal development programme given above, the coastal area has a potential for development such as housing, business offices, commercial establishments and public amenities in suitable sites. However, any development scheme designed in the area must adhere to the above-mentioned [the ones mentioned above in this piece] guiding principles”.


Another important provision states that “Development plans should be finalised with public participation and be presented for soliciting public opinion.” This has certainly not happened; on the contrary, the plans are simply not available to the public.


If the above provisions are applied then all the three coastal projects (one of which is under construction) will need to be scrapped and substantially redesigned. It is the duty of the nazim of Karachi and of the nazims of various towns of the city to protect the provisions of their KSDP 2020. It is the duty of the citizens to support their public representatives in doing so or to pressurise them if they do not do so. If the provisions of the KSDP 2020 are not followed then the plan is not worth the paper it is written on.


However, provisions alone do not guarantee the implementation of a plan. Solid institutional arrangements are required which are not yet in place.

(By Arif Hasan, Daily Dawn, 14/10/2008)

 

 

Explosive nature of urban poverty


ARTICLE (November 07 2008): An environment, which is marked with insecurity and charged with tension, an environment which does not provide a proper urbanised life style and security, does not help in attracting foreign investors. The industrial production, exports and diminishing revenue collection would have done much better, if the atmosphere in the urban areas had been orderly and friendly.


Pakistan, the fourth most populated country in Asia and the most urbanised in South Asia, presently suffers from tensions in its largest city of its worst kind. The urban areas account for one third of Pakistan's population; one fifth of the urban population is considered poor; they may be more, maybe up to one tenth of the total population of Pakistan.


Urban poverty is of a far more threatening and explosive nature and it has a potential to hurt the economy much more than rural poverty. The urban poor is likely to react more strongly in an unfavourable situation than the rural poor, because of the fact that the people are well aware of different things and living standards as compared to the rural poor who are immune to unfavourable conditions. The level of awareness in the cities is much more than in the rural areas, due inter-alia to a higher literacy rate and there are lots of means to educate them either through media or by interaction with others. The urban facilities include good health, education, social welfare, and access to economic resources, which influence on decision-making that affects one's life.


Poverty has often been seen as a purely rural problem. In the coming years, urban poverty will become a major challenge for policymakers. Economical requirements force people to migrate from rural areas to cities that are already over populated. This leads to growth in urban population of the region and also increases the urban poverty.


Pakistan experienced one of the highest growth rates of population world-wide; it quadrupled in only 50 years to (1996) over 130 million. The urban population growth accelerated from 4.3 percent per annum in the last three decades (1960-1992) to 4.6 percent at present (1992-2000). 34 percent of Pakistan's population presently live in towns; with around 45 million urban population Pakistan ranks 5th in Asia (after China, India, Japan and Indonesia).


With some ten million inhabitants, Karachi is one of the largest cities in Asia; in South Asia it ranks only behind Bombay, Calcutta and New Delhi. According to the World Bank, Karachi is one of the fastest growing mega cities of the world and is expected to rank 7th by the year 2015. The urban population is presently estimated at slightly less than 50 million, at 32 percent of the country's total population. Taking urban poverty at 22-23 percent, the number of urban poor would work out approximately to 10-11 million. About 30 percent of the urban population is concentrated only in two cities namely Karachi and Lahore, where the number of the urban poor should be around three million. The total population density of Pakistan is 166.3 sq.km and 32.5 out of the total population is located in the urban areas of Pakistan. According to official statistics, poverty in Pakistan stood at 31.8 per cent in 2003. Of this, rural poverty stood at 38.65 percent, while urban poverty was estimated at 22.39 percent, during the year.


The increasing gulf between the rich and poor is far more prominent in the urban areas as compared to the rural areas. A simple example of comparison between the luxurious life style of an elite living in the posh area like defence and a poor of the slums in the same area surely gives in a clear picture and answers to many questions.


The urban population has seen a serious blow with a problem of ever increasing prices of civic commodities and taxes. Unemployment and under employment has added fuel to the fire. A large number of people are working for extra hours and side jobs to collect some money to make both ends meet. Even after doing two to three jobs people in the urban areas are still under a constant fear and threat of hunger and poverty. It appears that all the happiness and comfort of the people, especially the youth, has been wiped off. The government policies have also worsened the situation. According to the records of All Pakistan Federation of Labour the minimum wage level of an unskilled labour is Rs 4000 to 6000 per month.


Educational expenses and the recent price hike have increased the problems of the working class manifold and they are living from hand to mouth. A lay person is not even able to feed his family properly. Government hospitals are merely just an adapted name because there are no real significant positives aspects of them. The thought of it being a government institution is well thought of being affordable but even the common man cannot afford getting sick because of the high cost of medicine.


Unemployment, gulf between the rich and the poor, economic imbalance, unwise distribution of resources, and lack of facilities have all brought social instability and injustice in our society. Now a culture has been developed where society is in the hands of armed gangs, underworld mafia, with highest crime rate. Our youth is being exploited by these social evil forces and thus bringing our nation into a state of chaos and anarchy.


The life can never be the same as it used to be in the 60s and 70s, thanks to the inappropriate policies of the government. Such an environment, which is marked with insecurity and charged with tension, does not help in attracting foreign investors. Rather it leads to a flight of foreign capital.


In spite of all this, the city district government has tried its level best to improve the situation. Development work, such as water supply schemes and construction of roads, have been started to improve the living standards of the people in urban areas. However, the government needs to do more to cope with the growing problem of unemployment. One of the major ways to combat the growing problems of urban poverty is through education.


Supporting the non-governmental organisations and introducing low priced literacy campaign can definitely bring in better results. Moreover vocational training can also play a vital role in making our youth self sufficient and can bring in a revolution. In order to fight against the growing and explosive nature of urban poverty the government needs to improve labour laws and the rights of labour class should be protected. The government needs to make sure that the government's land allotment schemes and private housing projects are not being misused by speculators and invisible investors owing to which the prices of land and houses do not get inflated and out of the reach of the poor, for whom the government claims to be making policies and announcing these schemes. Zakat, usher and other religious funds should be used to alleviate the urban poverty by making various schemes in the slums of the cities.


The government focuses most its attentions to the rural poverty ignoring the urban poverty threat completely. Urban poverty is a fast growing problem and there are no proper statistics which can count the actual number of people living below the poverty line in the urban areas of Pakistan. Rural to urban migration has aggravated the situation. This rural to urban migration have also created economic imbalance in the country. Now there is acute shortage of farm workers in the rural areas.


The dire need is that the government provide rural population vocational and technical education at their places, so that they can establish their business in the villages only. This may reduce the poor from rural areas to the urban cities and may improve the situation as a whole.


The different dimensions of poverty and their causal factors underscore the need for policy and institutional reforms at the national as well as the city level, in order to achieve sustainable and replicable improvements in the conditions facing the poor. Policy actions need to be structured to make the poor people enhance their capacity to manage their assets.


Policy and institutional areas include all the aspects starting from land, housing and urban services to Financial markets to labour markets and employment and social protection and social services (health, nutrition, education and security) environment. City stakeholders, whether in industrial, transition, or developing countries, should take proactive roles in defining a shared vision of their city's future and improving residents' quality of life, particularly for the urban poor. A city development strategy (CDS) is a process devised and owned by local stakeholders to formulate a holistic vision for their city. The process involves analysis of the city's prospects for economic and social development, identification of priorities for investment and development assistance, and implementation through partnership-based actions.


The urban poor are not given rights and responsibilities that go with being citizens. They are often assumed to be passive consumers rather than active participants with something to contribute. Even being asked to express needs and demands, without accepting responsibilities that go with being citizens, does not really empower people. In various countries, slum residents express their needs for infrastructure and urban services in particular, and they may get what they want in return for their votes.


Such populist policies, however, often do not require them to pay the costs of such services or land that they occupy even at a subsidised level. Public authorities in such cases retain the political advantage of being the sole decision-makers in allocating resources.

 

(By MAHEEN ISHAQ)

Pakistan Defence Gallery

http://www.defence.pk/forums/economy-development/15990-explosive-nature-urban-poverty.html

 

 

 

SHC dismisses plea in Kidney Hill case

 

The Sindh High Court dismissed a petition challenging a compromise in respect of the 62-acre Kidney Hill Park but allowed the petitioner organization to institute a suit as the issue involved a factual controversy.


The kidney-shaped hilly area was declared a park in the early 1960s but the Overseas Pakistanis Co-operative Housing Society claimed that it was allotted to it by the Karachi Development Authority, since merged into the city district government. The dispute was litigated for decades without any work on the proposed public park till a compromise was reached between the claimant society and the city district government in the Supreme Court in 2006. The proceedings were joined by the non-governmental organization Shehri-Citizens for Better Environment, which pressed for maintaining the amenity status of the plot in the public interest.


Under the compromise, the CDGK was given 20 acres for laying a park while 40 acres were allocated to the society for allotting residential plots to its members. One acre was to remain with the Karachi Water Sewerage Board, which earlier had eight acres for constructing a reservoir.


Shehri, however, challenged the compromise in the high court as the CDGK and the housing society could not reach a settlement in derogation of law. It said the compromise was reached behind its back though it was a bona fide party to the dispute. The law was now well entrenched that an amenity plot could not be converted into a commercial or residential complex.

Appearing for the petitioner organization, Advocate Abdul Rehman said the claimant society had fraudulently obtained a lease deed in its favour. In any case, once a plot had been earmarked for development of a public park, it could not be put any other use.


The housing society produced the lease deed and other documents to substantiate its claim. The city district government submitted through its counsel, Advocate Manzoor Ahmed, that it was interested in the development of the area so that it was saved from encroachments. The compromise was reached to end the prolonged litigation and protect whatever land could be saved for development of a park. He pointed out that according to the approved plan, the housing colony in the area would have a hospital, a mosque and other amenities. The CDGK wanted to start work on the 20-acre park in right earnest, he said.


Dismissing the petition for raising a factual controversy that could only be decided by recording of evidence, a bench consisting of Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Arshad Noor Khan advised the petitioner organization to file a suit to seek its remedy. The interim injunction granted against the impugned compromise was also vacated. The judgment, which was reserved by the bench that heard the petition, was announced by another division comprising Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Rana Mohammad Shamim.

 

(Dawn-17, 10/09/2009)

 

 

Several city areas getting water unfit for consumption

 

The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board is supplying unfit drinking water — in most cases infected with E-coli — to at least 12 towns of the city, it has been learnt.


Sources said that as opposed to the normal perception that bottled water was safe and pure, tests had shown that water supplied in many bottled brands was also unfit for human consumption.


According to sources in the city government’s regulation and quality control (health) department, which carries out tests on drinking water to monitor its quality, more than 3,500 samples were collected from different places all over the city from January to July and nearly 2,380 were found fit while about 1,200 were unfit for consumption.


E-coli, found in human faeces, and other bacteria found in drinking water could cause life threatening diseases, including diarrhoea and cholera.


The 12 towns where water was found unfit for human consumption were: Site, Baldia, Lyari, Orangi, Gulshan, Jamshed, Keamari, New Karachi, Liaquatabad, Gadap, Landhi and Korangi. The sources said that the KWSB brought in the bulk of drinking water from the Indus River, while some water was also brought in from the Hub source. They said bacteria entered drinking water as the pipelines are rusted and leaking. Besides, water supply and sewerage lines in most parts of the city had outlived their life and developed leakages. Some low-intensity seismic activity, though not felt by people normally, was also going on and it took its toll on the worn-out pipelines. Another reason was that owing to the water shortages, the pipelines remained empty for a considerable amount of time daily, during which time they developed negative pressure and sucked in the moisture and sewage that had leaked from the nearby, similarly worn-out sewers.


The third reason is rains. When rainwater mixed with sewage and garbage enters the pipelines through the leaks and contaminates the drinking water supply, it makes people vulnerable to numerous health hazards.


The sources said the city government’s health department was vigilant about booking contaminators, but cases were never filed against the KWSB as both work under the city government. The most the health department did was write a letter to the KWSB, informing it that water supply to such and such place was contaminated.


Responding to Dawn’s queries, chief food inspector Abdul Waheed Bhatti said that when the samples of water supplied by the KWSB were found unfit, a letter was written to the board informing it that the water supply to a certain area was unfit. Then the water board checked and took steps to improve the quality or plug the leakages. He said that as the water board was a sister organisation of the CDGK, a case was not registered against it.


Bottled water


The sources said that the situation of expensive bottled water was also not much different. As the companies marketing bottled water had mushroomed, the quality in many cases had been compromised and the people who paid extra money expecting to get better quality were also exposed to threats to their health as many of the brands were found unfit for human consumption. They said the city government’s health department took six samples of bottled water during July and three of them — 50 per cent — were found containing bacteria and were declared unfit for consumption.


The results of the bottled water tested in June were slightly better as 57 samples were tested and 13 were declared contaminated and unfit for consumption. The health department has filed cases against these bottled water companies in court. The sources said the department did not expose the names of the errant brands as the officials still remember a distasteful episode in the past, when a famous red sherbet (syrup) brand was found contaminated.


When its name appeared in the media, the company accused the officials of working at the behest of the then governor, whose company also prepared a similar sherbet, and filed a case against the officers for damages. Over a decade since the episode, the officers — though no longer working in the department — were still facing the case in court. Mr Bhatti, when asked, did not give the names of the contaminated bottled water companies and said that it might hurt their reputation. Besides, he said, the cases were in court.


RQC (health) department chief Dr Abdul Jabbar said that under the West Pakistan Pure Food Laws, 1965, there should be one inspector for a population of 10,000, but here, while the city’s population, conservatively speaking, had crossed 10 million, there were only 14 inspectors, including the chief inspector.


Earlier, he said there used to be a special magistrate for the KMC and the cases used to be decided quickly. But now the cases were sent to normal magistrates, who were already overburdened, so the cases lingered for years.


The staff also had to go to different courts to file and follow the cases, which consumed a lot of time that otherwise could be utilised on checking and monitoring the contaminators in their respective areas.

(By Bhagwandas, Dawn-13, 01/09/2008)

 

 

Development goals: bridging the gaps

 

Total earnings of Rs7500, a little under $100 a month, from two jobs was not enough to make a living.


Mohammad Jaffar a young migrant working 14 hours a day in Karachi as a loader during the day with a contractor and a waiter at a small restaurant in the evening, was forced by demands of survival to vacate Rs3000( about $40 a month) rented house and shift to a hutment with his family.


Jaffar arrived in Karachi with his wife four years back. Despite being hardworking today he is deep into debt struggling to sustain his family of four children. One of the four, Azam is ill and dying for health care which is expensive and beyond means of his family. But Jaffar still prefers to stay on in Karachi over going back to his home village in southern Punjab because he is still better off in the city. However, if this is better what the worse would be like?


For this family and their likes life is nothing but a painful journey into disappointments. Indeed, there is little to suggest that those in power really care.


The fate of poor in resource rich country is as dismal as it can get. Excluded from the gains of high growth during 2004-07, they are now being advised by the wise men of the government to endure more than their fair share of pain as the economy is under a difficult patch. For both internal and external reasons, Pakistan is currently grappling with high inflation and slower growth.


Today of 1000, some 79 infants die at birth, 99 more die before their fifth birthday. According to latest figures compiled by international economic monitoring agencies, Pakistan has the highest proportion of under nourished population in Asia Pacific region. The government might feel uncomfortable with such observations but would find it hard to challenge them because it is still busy collecting and processing data on social indicators for 2006.


Sadly this is where the country has reached riding the Asian tide-- what the ex-prime minister Shaukat Aziz used to call ‘stellar growth’ ----when the sale of motorcycles multiplied from 90 thousand to 900 thousand.


Some press reports suggest that the elected President will lead Pakistan’s delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York later this month. A few high profile meetings are reported on the sidelines of the meeting. But nothing has so far been published about one of the main themes of the UN Sept 25 meeting that is to review the progress on Millennium Development Goals. One wonders, with so little to show in absence of the current background material, how productive the participation of the political leadership would be in a meeting of 188 nations that made a solemn pledge to the eight goals in 2000. At the half way point to the target year of 2015, the world prepares to meet to take stock of the progress made towards these goals. The leaders in words of UN are ‘to review progress, identify gaps and commit to concrete efforts, resources and mechanisms to bridge the gaps’.


Pakistan’s participation is expected to be as embarrassing as its progress towards 38 targets that it set out for itself to achieve eight goals. These MDGs are: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, ensure environment sustainability, develop a global partnership for development.


Pakistan committed to half the poverty rate to bring it down to 13 per cent by 2015.


The elected leadership is too preoccupied by other issues to spare a thought for MDGs or targets. The government functionaries have failed to deliver. No one expects any wonders from them but unfortunately, they have also not been able to bring out 2006 MDGs progress report in September 2008. “The report of the year 2006 should be ready over the next few months” Dr Arshad Amjad, Chief Economist Planning Commission told Dawn from Islamabad.


Salman Farooqui, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, when contacted was unable to comment off hand on the issue. He, however, directed Dr Mohammad Aslam Khan, specialist on fiscal and monetary affairs, Planning Commission to respond to Dawn’s queries. The gentleman told Dawn that Pakistan is on track on many goals but was not able to justify the delay of the publication of the progress report that last appeared in March 2007 reviewing the performance for 2005.


Insiders told Dawn that the delay was because of the government’s interference in functioning of the cell responsible for processing and analysing data. “We are not allowed to work with numbers independently. All relevant numbers are audited by the government so that no number that the government perceives to be harmful to its political image is made public”. “The government is very sensitive with poverty figures as they carry political weight. The last government forced us to suppress provincial poverty numbers as they reflected increasing intra provincial disparities”, a senior economist privy to the monitoring process said. Most worrying is the low level of public awareness on the eight goals or the 38 specific targets. There is absolutely no pressure on the government from local stakeholders to reshape its spending pattern or re-arrange its order of priorities to achieve targets leading to sustainable development.


Most leaders and people, who should be spearheading the process in achieving those goals, when contacted, were little or not informed at all on the subject. Many admitted that they were hearing the word MDGs for the first time. This unaware mass includes people from all strata of society including drivers, clerks, plumbers, teachers, salesmen, doctors, lawyers, traders, housewives, etc.


Except in the Punjab, the situation in rest of the three provinces is bleak. In NWFP, some spade work started in 2005 but the tide of extremism and related law and order challenges did not allow the provincial government to move beyond planning stage. The Sindh government was found to be too fragmented to focus on anything worthwhile. Balochistan is too volatile politically to plan or execute a programme for MDGs.


Even the private sector that is supposed to be the key driver of the economy has totally been kept out of the picture in formulation of targets or their implementation. Tanvir Sheikh, President FPCCI admitted his ignorance about the goals this week over telephone from Multan.


It appears that so far it has all been a closed door ministry level activity. Yes, the reference is made to the goals in official documents such as Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF), the State Bank annual reports and the Economic Survey. The two progress reports were prepared primarily for the consumption of World Bank, IMF, UNDP, etc.

 

(By Afshan Subohi, Dawn-Economic & Business Review, Page-1, 08/09/2008)