KARACHI, June 26: The works carried out by government agencies on sewerage disposal schemes cost 6 to 10 times more compared to the costs incurred in the same works done by participatory model being practiced in the Orangi Pilot Project and other places. The same works done in foreign funded projects cost up to 38 times more.
This was claimed by Ms Parveen Rehman while speaking on ‘Sewerage Disposal Problem in Poor Localities and Its Solution’ at the Pakistan Peoples Party’s central secretariat here. Her lecture, the third of a lecture series organised by the party, was presided over by Prof N. D. Khan, in-charge of the PPP Study Circle and a member of the party’s Karachi Coordination Committee.
Ms Rehman argued that it was wrong to call poor localities as ‘katchi abadis’, rather, these are ‘people’s housings’ built by people through their own resources. She said 60 per cent of Karachi’s population lived in such localities at present and over the next decade, this percentage might go up to 72 per cent.
Whatever small portion of funds is left over for the social sectors in our budgets at different tiers is spent only on the rich localities. The settlements of the poor are mainly located in the low-lying areas, near the natural rainwater drains. Thus the sewerage of the rich localities flows through the poor localities, adding to their problems.
Responding to the pressing needs of constructing houses, disposing of sewerage, providing education and health facilities, etc., the residents of these poor settlements had opted for pooling their meagre resources to resolve their problems on their own.
These efforts at ‘mohallah level’ need to be applauded and studied because it is only after a deep study and interaction with the people that the organisations like the Orangi Pilot Project can contribute to the imparting of technical skills.
Prof N. D. Khan, in his concluding remarks, gave the example of North Korea which was following the Ju Cheh philosophy of self-reliance, and pointed out that the nation had built itself in a way that even the super power could not dictate its terms to that country.
