OLD and new challenges continue to haunt Karachi’s residents. Since the beginning of this year, a large number of people have died in road accidents. Families blame different cadres across tiers of government and the operators of large vehicles. Transport operators protest as crowds burn or damage their vehicles and assault drivers. Transport planning and management are under tremendous stress due to rising public scrutiny.
Meanwhile, the Sindh Building Control Authority has amended certain clauses in the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations, 2002 (amended from time to time). The purported aim is to allow the commercial use of residential properties. If implemented, the sanctity of residential spaces will be severely compromised. Auto rickshaw operators, many of whom provide vital public transport, have been barred from operating on 11 major streets. The authorities took this step to curb the increasing number of these vehicles and decongest the main corridors.
In addition to the emerging challenges, long-standing problems remain unresolved: housing for the homeless; extending piped water to millions who rely on alternative means; improving safety; controlling marine pollution; addressing poor land management that converts precious farmland/ grazing grounds into real estate; disruptions due to the BRT Red Line project; the unresolved complaints of evictees; and the swift conversion of amenity spaces into commercial structures.
The question is, how can the administration tackle these complex matters concerning different government tiers, private enterprises, powerful stakeholders, civil society organisations and political and religious groups? The only rational option is consultation, urban planning, management and collective action to drive reforms.
Consultation is vital for any meaningful planning effort.
We learn from newspapers, social media posts and other communication that some form of consultation is already taking place amongst the stakeholders. Civil society actors have an ongoing discourse analysing these and other issues Karachi faces. The Urban Resource Centre has had multiple engagements around the problems faced by people in katchi abadis, peripheral areas and emerging settlements. Noted urban planners, activists and sector specialists have contributed to these deliberations, keeping the common people at the centre of the discourse.
Citizens for Better Environment/ Shehri has identified irregularities in construction and the management of the built environment. Through consultations with stakeholders, academia and media, it has highlighted key factors routinely disrupting neighbourhood management and filed multiple court cases.
Such public interest litigation has given legal relief in city matters, such as the illegal conversions of parks and playgrounds or illegal construction on amenity plots. The Karachi Citizens Forum, the Climate Action Centre, SABKA, the Concerned Citizens Alliance, Karachi Bachao Tehreek, the Knowledge Forum, the Technical Training Resource Centre and others have done commendable research and come up with proposals for better planning and management of the city. It would be wise for government agencies to take note of their work and evolve a rational course of action for tackling Karachi’s perennial problems.
The Greater Karachi Region Plan 2047 is being prepared under the Karachi Development Authority. It is being supervised by officials and done through contracts. Some initial work has been shared with city stakeholders, while the firms concerned are busy fulfilling the terms of reference and securing emolu-ments.
It must be remembered that urban and regional planning is a process, not a finite contract. Many key informants, scholars, researchers and organisations are knowledgeable about Karachi’s past and present challenges. Consulting them is vital for any meaningful planning effort.
In the same vein, the Karachi Climate Action Plan was undertaken by a group of experts, researchers and public scholars as a starting point to address climate-related challenges. Prepared for the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, the plan now calls for establishing a viable platform for its implementation through an inclusive and consultative process.
It is regrettable that a previous plan that proposed the creation of a Karachi-based steering committee to deal with all urban planning and development challenges faced by the metropolis has not been notified so far. While powerful, clandestine groups secure their interests, the ordinary people continue to run from pillar to post. It is time we institutionalised reforms for a rational and consultative process to manage urban planning, development and management affairs.
The writer is an academic and researcher based in Karachi.
Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2025
