Fractured city

Published October 2, 2016
The writer is chairman, Department of Architecture & Planning, NED University, Karachi.
The writer is chairman, Department of Architecture & Planning, NED University, Karachi.

MANAGING Karachi is mired in multiple complexities. While one city, the existence of many land development and management agencies with overlapping functions and jurisdictions causes administrative complications. Post-Partition, neighbourhoods falling in the municipal category were mostly developed and allotted by the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) until it merged with the (now defunct) City District Government in 2001. Defence Housing Authority (DHA) continues to acquire land from the provincial board of revenue and carves out plots for designated allottees.

The Lyari and Malir development authorities and the reincarnated KDA also develop land for similar purposes. Karachi Port Trust and Port Qasim Authority manage ports and develop and manage lands in their respective territories. Pakistan Railways and Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate develop lands for operational and general urban purposes.

Presently, urban locations falling in the municipal area are jointly managed by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and six district municipal corporations in Malir, Korangi, Central, South, East and West districts. For the same responsibilities, the city possesses six cantonment boards: Malir, Korangi, Karachi, Clifton, Manora and Faisal.


Karachi suffers from tensions over jurisdiction.


Each functions through its own statutes and administrative hierarchies that leave little room for coordinated efforts in urban planning, development and management. Karachi’s mayors are often vocal about this when they express helplessness at not being able to exercise authority over basic urban services. Some may remember that mayor Abdul Sattar Afghani was sacked by the provincial government in 1987 when he marched from KMC’s head office to Sindh Secretariat, demanding the city’s rightful share of property and motor vehicle taxes.

Not much has changed in the past 40 years. City affairs are closely controlled by different organs of the government. After Musharraf’s regime’s nine-year interlude, the provincial tutelage reigns supreme. Since the 18th Amendment, the Sindh government now possesses more financial space and exercises tighter control in the city’s running. The peculiar political equation of Karachi must be examined objectively. The city administration and provincial government have rarely shared the same outlook.

In 1970, the Jamaat-i-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan won a majority. In 1977, an opposition coalition under the Pakistan National Allianace, or PNA, banner won all but two seats. And since 1988, the city has been the MQM’s stronghold. Provincial governments have been dominated by the PPP or, in some cases, the political affiliates of establishment groups. By exercising legal and administrative authority, the government continued to tilt the balance of power and decision-making in its favour.

For instance, under World Bank advice, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board was created in an amendment to the Local Govern­ment Ordinance in 1983, and chaired by Karachi’s mayor. In 1996, the Sindh government brought a new act that transferred control from the mayor to the provincial administration. The Karachi (later Sindh) Building Control Authority functions as a provincially controlled agency. KDA has always been controlled by the provincial government with the Karachi commissioner acting as chairman, and now the minister of local government.

However, the creation of the Lyari and Malir development authorities in 1993-94 gave exclusive powers of land allotment and allocation in peri-urban territory of the city. The military establishment exercised exclusive jurisdiction in its residential estates through DHA and cantonment boards. The provision of essential services fell into the Sindh government’s hands. The situation is more complex today with the arrival of ‘super-developers’ of land and real estate, who influence the process of infrastructure development and land allocation in accordance to their commercial interests. Citizens and city suffer when administrative tensions cause a breakdown of services.

Development plans prepared in 1974, 1990-91 and 2007 have offered useful solutions to the complexities of urban management. These solutions are still valid, albeit with some adjustments.

To begin with, a formula for managing Karachi as one urban entity must be created with political consensus. The establishment and the centre must participate in this process, given the city’s extraordinary importance in national affairs. A Karachi planning agency must be created as the main forum for analysing the city’s development and management issues, and recommending proposals for future sustenance. Legal cover must be accorded to this arrangement as suggested in the city’s master plans. All agencies, departments and stakeholders must be represented on the governing body. Financial allocations for municipal agencies must be free from the political levers of the Sindh government. These reforms are as vital for the city as the ongoing Karachi operation.

The writer is chairman, Department of Architecture & Planning, NED University, Karachi.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2016

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