To clear the urban mess that Saddar has become today, serious efforts are needed to formulate alternatives for its revitalization, traffic re-routing and the rehabilitation of its hawkers and encroachers
Saddar, once the pride of Karachi, is now a mess and becoming worse day by day. It has become congested and environmentally degraded. In an attempt to solve the problems of the locality, a development plan for Saddar was prepared, in 1986, by architect Arif Hasan, of Urban Resource Centre. The plan, which included partial pedestrianization and rehabilitation of hawkers, was rejected by the hawkers as they considered it an attack on their livelihoods.
In the mid nineties, surveys were carried out to understand the socio-economic conditions of the Saddar hawkers. The results led to an analysis of Saddar’s degradation, documentation of the existing situation and proposals for a rehabilitation plan along with financial and institutional details for its implementation and sustainability. An introduction of the ongoing work was made to the previous City Government (formerly known as KMC), in 2001 and in 2002, to the present Karachi city and Saddar town nazims. A more elaborate presentation will be made soon. It is hoped that the study will help the city government in its attempts to overcome the problems of Saddar.
Saddar was once considered to be the cultural hub of Karachi. It was the geographic, economic and socio-cultural centre of the city and it was cherished by the citizens for its exquisite architecture, environment and services.
In the last 30 years, the culture of Saddar and its environs has changed dramatically due to an enormous population increase and the resultant growth of the city. Saddar, being centrally located in Karachi, has turned into the largest transit area, catering to thousands of buses, other public transport vehicles and the commuting population. Surveys on schoolchildren and policemen point out that the lead content in their blood has reached alarming levels and many psychiatric ailments in the area have proven to be directly linked with noise and air pollution.
Many of the residential buildings having retail shops on the ground floor have been replaced by godowns and storage spaces, or are lived in by male day wage labourers. This has obviously changed the character of the streets from that of a lively downtown shopping area to a deserted and unfriendly place at night.
More than 3000 semi-permanent cabins, hawkers and vendors catering to the transit population have sprung up lining almost all the streets in Saddar. They are a product of the process in which the mafia, supported by corrupt officials, form a party to extort money from them. The hawkers and encroachers pay bribe to middlemen, known as ‘beaters’. The bribe money (bhatta) is proportionate to the commercial value of the encroached piece of land. The bhatta makes the corrupt officials ignore the activities of the hawkers and encroachers. Operation clean-ups and regular evictions are carried out to help keep the status quo. There are no attempts to regularize the hawkers and encroachers as it means loosing an easy source of income. Moreover, due to Saddar’s transit clientele, there is a genuine demand for hawkers and encroachers there.
Saddar, being the geographical centre of the city and in the absence of a ring road, became the place where the interchange of buses had to occur. According to a recent survey done by the former Traffic Engineering Bureau (TEB), approximately 3,50,000 buses, mini-buses and cars are entering and exiting Saddar daily, which is an increase of 40.7 per cent in the last six years. This excludes all other modes of transport such as, bicycles, motorbikes, donkey and horse driven carts.
No proper bus terminal has been allocated or provided in Saddar although transporters have been requesting it for many years. The ad-hoc bus terminal near Empress Market is a result of this. Moreover, the bus drivers pick up or drop passengers anywhere along their route, sometimes stopping in the middle of the street, far from the curb and so disturbing the traffic or causing accidents.
Hawkers and vendors provide services as well as entertainment to the transit and shopping population, mostly comprising middle and lower income groups. The shops hold very little attraction for them — they visit Saddar primarily for shopping from the hawkers (who sell comparatively cheaper goods), or just for an outing. The cultural aspect of wandering and browsing through merchandise, leafing through a newspaper, sitting with a palmist and having the shoes polished, add flavour to the trip made by a regular visitor. Standing and applauding the medicine man, who is selling to a large audience by putting on an act, provides a source of entertainment as well as parallel medicine to the lower income group. In addition, the large variety of cheap food items, being sold by hawkers, is an added attraction to the visitors.
Old hawkers are usually those who have been working in Saddar for the past two to three generations. They occupy the first row along the footpaths by de facto status. New hawkers and encroachers are often recent arrivals in Saddar, usually employed by the police and city government officials to run their businesses. They usually occupy the 2nd, 3rd and 4th row on the streets on the basis of official support.
Many organizations of hawkers, encroachers and shopkeepers are working for the social welfare and security of their respective members. However, they are not technically equipped nor organized enough to hold talks with the government for rehabilitation. These organizations charge a fee of between Rs50-100 per month per member. This money is used to pay guards at night who watch over the parked carts or locked cabins. It is also used for paying the sweepers who manage the solid waste and sometimes it is given as a welfare loan to hawkers, encroachers and shopkeepers who are in need of financial assistance.
Contrary to the popular belief that shopkeepers cannot coexist with hawkers, being their competitors, an informal working relationship has been discovered. Hawkers serve as a source of attraction for their potential clients. When people see a large number of other people in front of the shops they are attracted to the liveliness and activity. Secondly, hawkers often sell products of the shops, at a slightly lower price but sharing the profit with the shopkeepers. This, of course, with the exception of up-market shops or service-based institutions such as jewellers, banks and up-market restaurants who would much rather get rid of any form of encroachment in front of their premises.
It is also a misconception that hawkers and vendors contribute to the littering of Saddar with solid waste. Although, part generators of both organic and inorganic waste, solid waste collection and disposal at street level is well taken care of by hawkers’ associations, hawkers, encroachers and shop keepers of leased markets. The heaps of garbage, which are usually seen lying around, are a result of bad management and disposal at area level by the city government.
As 86 per cent of shoppers buying from hawkers are in transit and have no time to go to shops, cross-sections and main roads are most attractive sites for hawkers. The poverty level of hawkers, encroachers and shopkeepers is not as high as expected, however, being evicted several times a month is not contributing to the stability of the financially weak. At an average, hawkers and encroachers earn a net income of Rs 100 per day. The remaining earnings of Rs 200 is spent on the purchase of goods, bribes, storage and security of carts, association fee’s, solid waste disposal and transport.
As long as a bus interchange in Saddar will remain, the need for hawkers will remain as well. Being an active part of the economy of Karachi, hawkers and encroachers are interested in lease, permit or any type of legal document, which would grant them security of tenure.
In July 2001, 20 hawkers belonging to the Preedy Hawkers’ Association came together and applied to the KMC for regularization and permits for a permanent cabin. Once the money was deposited, they were allotted 20 cabins. The other members of the organization were encouraged by this attempt and more hawkers applied to the association for regularization. However, no further rehabilitation could take place as after 14th August 2001, KMC ceased to exist and the new City Government revoked the previous orders and evicted all of them by force without returning the payments.
The hawkers associations have lost all trust in the government agencies but understand that there is no other way out. They have requested the City Government to issue the permit or lease in advance. Legalizing the hawkers and encroachers will also give an opportunity to the City Government to have a control on their number.
Traffic planning and management is closely related to the hawkers phenomena and is a planning issue to be dealt with on city scale. Saddar, being the city centre and serving the main living and work areas, any change in it affects the larger traffic patterns of the city and vice versa. Also, the number of people living and working in the city and the increase in their number in the past 50 years play a crucial role in their movement pattern.
The high potential given by professionals to the Northern Bypass and the Karachi Circular Railway have never really been taken seriously by various government agencies. A rationalization of routes and interchanges through a revised bus routing plan on city scale, together with the creation of inter- and intra-bus terminals is needed in order to reduce the number of vehicles going through Saddar. If a revitalization of the Karachi Circular Railway could be achieved, a simple shuttle service, bicycle and pedestrian access would be needed to connect the Cant Station to Empress Market and Saddar.
Traffic rerouting is a priority to relieve Saddar from its traffic congestion, making its commuting patterns for the vehicles and pedestrians more efficient and safer. Although, officially, no public transport vehicle can be on the roads without an official permit, almost 50 per cent of the public buses in Karachi do not have a valid permit and each year new buses are added to the numbers.
Out of 2282 issued permits, only 16 per cent of the buses actually terminate in Saddar, while 84 per cent of the buses and mini-buses of Karachi are using Saddar as a thoroughfare.
A set of ring roads around Saddar can help relieving Saddar of through traffic and also improve the commuting efficiency. A ring road for fast-moving cars has been proposed following Abdullah Haroon Road and Mansfield Road. Street parking would still be allowed but would only be accessible through a service lane. Similarly, a ring road for fast-moving buses has been proposed along Daud Pota Road, with a left turn on Preedy Street and the street along the Students’ Biryani restaurant. To facilitate the segregation of through and local traffic, the next step has been the provision of infrastructure catering to transit traffic in the form of a bus terminal which could be located on the site where the weekly Sunday bazaar is held.
Increasing the number of charged parking places in Saddar under the management of the City Government would generate more revenue than the present system of contractors. It will also require the provision of single and multi-storied parking lots. In the absence of pedestrian areas in Saddar, thousands of pedestrians are forced to mix with the vehicular traffic. Pedestrian zones have been provided with vendor stalls to complement the two activities. An overall connection with the bus terminal and bus stops has been established. The proposed pedestrian areas consist of Bohri Bazaar and portions of Zaibunissa Street, Sharah-i-lraq, Dr Daud Pota Road and Preedy Street.
In addition, some of the leased markets will be relocated on the land reserved for the Preedy Street extension. The proposals of the study have suggested that a transparent process of rehabilitation will have to be held through dialogues, mobilization of the stakeholders and incremental development. Only this can ensure that all spatial and socio-economic concerns are addressed and provide a more realistic platform for the revitalization of Saddar and the rehabilitation of its hawkers and encroachers.
To clear the urban mess that Saddar has become today, serious efforts are needed to formulate alternatives for its revitalization, traffic re-routing and the rehabilitation of its hawkers and encroachers 
