| December 3, 2005 | Saturday | Shawwal 30, 1426 |
UAE takes a symbolic democratic step
When the sun sets in Karachi, the shoreline from Clifton can be seen bathed in burnished hues, stretching almost endlessly. In these clear autumn evenings, the skyline along the beach would also include the silhouette of the high-rise apartments dotting the seascape along Shirin Jinnah Colony.
While the entire scene makes the perfect setting for an impressionist to create a Monet-like work of art, the air which residents along the picturesque skyline breathe would definitely record high levels of toxic elements considering the refuse and oil spill merging in the waters.
But lately, the residents have been dealing with another alarming pollutant, which is coal dust. The black grains in the sand and residue on the window panes are proof that coal dust is being blown towards the shore.
A lady living in one of the apartment buildings disclosed that the westerly wind from the sea brings with it black grainy dust which even leaves its grimy marks on the skin. Looking out from her balcony, she can even see the mounds of coal lying in Keamari, which is the source of the black dust.
Other residents of the area confirm her observations and conclude that the dust comprises coal particles rising from the heap of coal dumped near one of the KPT berths.
One need not be a scientist to deduce the hazardous implications of inhaling coal particles containing carbon monoxide in its most basic form.
A small news item regarding the coal mounds and the accumulating coal dust (Karachi Notebook, October 17, 2005) had raised the issue with the KPT chief.
The KPT Chairman, Vice Admiral Ahmed Hayat, had stated that they were aware of the problem and were trying to find a solution, but except for stating that the coal was being doused with water to check the dust, no concrete solutions were given. But then, the water effect is not helpful when the coal is eventually transferred, further displacing a lot of coal powder.
A senior port operations expert and ex-KPT official has pointed out technical glitches in the haphazard handling of coal cargo. “Berth number three, where the coal is being offloaded, is first of all the wrong choice since it is on the outer sides and closer to the thoroughfare area, which goes towards the city. While berth number 16, which is situated further inside the groin area, should be used for berthing the ship bringing in such messy cargo, like coal.
Secondly, it should not be offloaded on the ground in the first place. It should directly be loaded on wagons and transported immediately to its destinations.
However, the main issue is why is bulk cargo coming in at the Karachi Port anyway, which is mainly a destination for general cargo, when it is actually Port Qasim, which has been designated for handling all bulk cargo like wheat, rice, etc.” But then, facilities at Port Qasim too are presently overstretched, and these cannot handle the large quantities of coal coming in.
When the government outlined its new energy strategy and decided to cut down on expenses by replacing oil-fired engines with coal-powered ones, it failed to look into the efficacy of the scheme.
Neither was any system for using our domestic coal source at Lakhra envisaged nor was the fact taken into consideration as to how would bulk import of coal be handled when coal becomes the main energy source for the industrial sector.
An ad-hoc decision of procuring coal – without considering its severe environmental implications – was taken by the government, and rest of the matter was left for further mismanagement at subsequent levels.
And since then, import of coal has suddenly doubled with port authorities too having little clue of how to manage the issue. The resultant effect: maximum pollution!
The KPT chief offers a solution of building silos on one hand and then refutes the same himself by adding that it is not known when the country’s ‘coal needs’ might change (probably when the government realises its superficial saving technique). And the silos, which would have been built at a huge cost, and for which, he claims, the KPT does not have funds – would become redundant.
What’s more, dust will increase once the South-East monsoon begins in a few months, and the result would be an even more polluted environment for Karachiites.
Till the time the coal is being imported, cargo handling should be carried out according to some professional procedure. If wagons/trains are no more in use (though there used to be rail tracks leading up to the jetty) why can’t the cargo be transported directly through trucks? And if there aren’t enough trucks, the KPT surely has enough funds to acquire them.
If they can ‘gift’ Karachi with an underpass and a totally superfluous contraption like the water jet, why can’t they upgrade their facilities as well?
It has been learnt that a new container terminal project – which is KPT’s much-needed requirement – is gathering dust with the concerned officials, who are more interested in spending the KPT’s funds on beautification projects.
The Karachi port is a non-profit set-up, and any surplus money which the port makes is outlined in the ‘Ports and Shipping Act’ as port development fund. While using funds for city development projects could be justified, using them for cosmetic changes just to make our coastline ‘appear’ similar to the skyline of a developed nation, is imprudence at its worst. And especially when there are many practical steps, which the KPT needs to take to bring the port’s functioning up to international standards.
Besides, construction of a container terminal, facilities for automatic cargo handling, and increasing the harbour’s depth to accommodate new ships are just some of its urgent requirements.
This is the age of the container cargo, and ships nowadays are huge structures of 70 to 80 feet, whereas the Karachi port has hardly provision for a 40-ft ship. The result is that the Karachi port is often bypassed and business is diverted to nearby ports like that of Dubai and even Mumbai, which have modernised its port facilities according to international standards, and who, I’m sure, have better methods to deal with coal imports as well!
AS I write this letter, the United Arab Emirates is celebrating its 34th National day. It was in 1971 that the British officially departed these desert lands, having persuaded the tribal leaders, who had always been responsible for their internal affairs, to get together and form a federation. The shaikhdoms were made to realize that going it alone in the big world, with no natural resources, was not really an option and they would be stronger together. Whether they would have all taken the same decision with the hindsight of the value of oil — and their consequent economic muscle — is doubtful.
The UAE was founded with a constitution that envisaged a close unity that has always proved elusive and many of its provisions remain shelved and best forgotten. Few remember, for instance, that there were plans to build a new federal capital on the border between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
But, despite the occasional internal squabble, the federation has survived thanks to all the emirates enjoying considerable degrees of independence — in some ways an advanced form of devolution, except that the power was never with the centre in the first place. The smaller emirates rely on subsidies from rich Abu Dhabi and pragmatism allows Dubai and Abu Dhabi to develop along their own paths.
And so, 34 years later, the celebrations of the achievements are under way, although I have to say that I have had to search the newspapers extremely diligently to find much joyous festivity. There was a time, now long gone, when the president would take the salute as a huge parade trundled its way through Abu Dhabi with children dancing and the armed forces showing off their latest toys.
Now it appears a few buildings have been lit up — but nothing more than you would get with an average wedding party — and I do notice a few lampposts adorned with the UAE flag.
In fact, a large proportion of the population is rather disgruntled over this year’s National Day because they feel they are being discriminated against. Traditionally the event has been a public holiday (two days for public sector workers and one day for the private sector) and, because it fell on a Friday this year, the weekly day off, it was announced that government employees would get Saturday and Sunday off in compensation. As they always take Thursday off, it meant a four-day holiday. They were naturally delighted.
No such luck for the private sector where such matters are decided by the Ministry of Labour. The minister decided he didn’t have the power to award a compensatory day off — and failed to make any announcement, leaving the private sector in total confusion. It has been left to companies to take their own decisions with the result that half will probably be at work and the rest enjoying themselves, along with the bureaucrats.
There was, however, one big surprise on National Day. Banner headlines in all the newspapers suggested the UAE was taking the first — albeit extremely tentative — step towards ushering in some democracy.
In a statement marking National Day, President Khalifa bin Zayed said that elections would be held for the Federal National Council, a consultative body which has powers to discuss planned legislation, but little else.
The FNC was one of the provisions of the constitution that was actually implemented. It is made up of 40 members nominated by each of the seven emirates. In the early years it was quite a lively debating society. Some young hawks — who had been at university in Cairo in the ’50s when Nasser’s nationalism was seizing the imagination of the Arab world — seemed to think that the FNC would spearhead democracy in the UAE and they did not shirk from discussing hot topics, including the role of the rulers.
But they were ahead of their time; the more outspoken woke up to find that they had not been re-nominated and the FNC became very tame, having little relevance and virtually fading into obscurity — until now.
There have been hints for some time that reforms were about to be announced in the Emirates. It is now the only country in the Gulf states without any sort of elected government body: even Saudi Arabia held municipal elections earlier this year and with the United States constantly harping on about ‘things changing’ and ‘democracy spreading’ it was only a matter of time before the UAE was forced to make some democratic moves.
I should add here that I do not believe there is any great internal pressure on the rulers — who are generally well liked — to institute democracy. Unlike some other Gulf states there are not — so far as I know — any exiled opposition groups clamouring for change, or any political prisoners.
The papers have been full of the ‘significance’ of the announcement but at first glance, and without much details being revealed, it does look as though this is a very small democratic step.
Of the 40 members of the FNC, half will still be appointed. The other half will be elected through councils to be set up in each of the seven emirates. But, according to an unnamed UAE official, participation in these councils will be limited to 2,000 UAE nationals who will be ‘mostly dignitaries, tribal chiefs or influential figures in society’.
Presumably, they will be appointed by the individual rulers, which sounds to me like keeping power in the same hands.
President Khalifa said that further reforms will follow to upgrade the rule of law in the country and transparency in government decision-making.
“In order to achieve these objectives, the years ahead require the rebuilding, restructuring, re-arrangement and rehabilitation of all existing government bodies and structures,” he said.
What this means is anybody’s guess. Federal ministries, in general, operate with bloated bureaucracies and their influence is limited in Dubai, which has its own government with a lean system that is geared to getting things done in the fastest way. Dubai could not have developed so rapidly unless it had a system where the orders from the top were quickly implemented (or if it had to bother with the time-consuming process of democratic debate).
By contrast, Abu Dhabi, has moved much more slowly, although things are changing since the death last year of the founding president, Shaikh Zayed, as the capital tries to catch up with Dubai.
There is little doubt that many government bodies are overdue for a shake-up so it will be interesting to see what culling takes place in the corridors of inaction.
Right now, I would just settle for a government that has the foresight and the courage to take a decision on whether or not I get a day off to celebrate National Day. I am going to be really upset if I’m the only one working on Saturday.