ON May 25, the Sindh Building Control Authority which also holds the reins of the master plan department for Karachi, banned the construction of buildings beyond ground plus two storeys. The action was to comply with a Supreme Court order related to water and sanitation issues in the province. This may appear a partially useful step for taming the mushrooming of tall buildings across Karachi, but such matters are normally dealt with by city master plans and zoning guidelines enforced by a competent, autonomous planning agency.

Planning agencies routinely analyse urban development trends and propose directives to manage new challenges. The plans for Karachi covering 2007-2020, 1986-2000 and 1973-85 all recommended an uninterrupted planning process for the generation of a detailed database, sectoral studies etc for diagnosing the city’s problems and preparing solutions.

Karachi is divided into multiple jurisdictions controlled by a jumble of local, provincial and federal agencies, including the military. Responsibility for infrastructure and provision of services is divided among several bodies. A unified vision and development plan is important. No plan can be implemented if a planning agency is not administratively, technically and financially strong. Such an agency also needs sufficient clout to enforce its writ on the basis of technical expertise and jurisdictional validity. It must act as a filter to examine all the proposals.

A jumble of agencies manage a jumble of challenges.

Unfortunately, Karachi has become a playground for all kinds of real-estate investors. One reason is arbitrary land-apportionment procedures. Every big city possesses a land-use strategy and a corresponding plan for implementation. Land is a finite social asset and should be used in an extremely careful manner. In the case of Karachi, this universal principle is grossly violated.

Decision-makers in the government and the agencies are also partners in a nefarious enterprise. The ongoing allocation of land for real estate along major highways and roads will cause undue pressures on an already fragile infrastructure.

For instance, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has control, ownership and jurisdiction of road-shoulder spaces in many localities. But its writ is invisible as one finds these spaces encroached upon, subdivided and usurped in connivance with law-enforcement functionaries. If this practice is not controlled, the city will have no land provision for upgrading road transport corridors. For fair play to prevail, government agencies must be directed to publicly declare land assets.

Karachi faces a grave crisis when it comes to the provision of infrastructure, management and sustenance. One finds many high-profile projects in different phases of implementation; no holistic approach is evident.

The city lacks basic services including water supply, sewerage, storm-water drains, public transport, electricity and social amenities. No decent public transport network exists. At present, a few thousand large buses, mini buses and coaches are available to shoulder a massive load of more than 24 million passenger trips a day.

In most large urban regions, a working mass transit system is created for this type of load. Plans for the Karachi Circular Railways may have been a step in this direction. Many studies have suggested the immediate revival of the KCR but work towards this goal has always hit snags for one reason or the other.

In large cities, where commuting distances are extensive and the passenger volume is large, the value of mass transit modes cannot be underrated. Good planning practices are based on the careful evaluation of ongoing trends. A sound planning framework aims to promote positive trends and control negative ones.

Many trends are visible in Karachi, such as the availability and investment of overseas capital in real-estate enterprises, the commodification of land assets, the emergence of the Sindh local government department as the real entity with power and control of funds, and the declining jurisdiction and capacity of KMC and the Karachi Development Authority.

Then, there is the unchecked rise in vehicle ownership as concerns for vehicle-road space ratio are shoved aside. Besides, citizens must contend with the inaccessibility of housing options for the poor, low- and middle-income groups, the systematic destruction of ecological assets, and falling standards in solid-waste management, sewage and storm-water disposal. These trends must be professionally examined.

Citizens suffer in the absence of proper service standards and confusing procedures. Whether in the acquisition of a water connection or the approval of building permits, written procedures are either grossly inadequate or absent. Public-service counters, smartphone-based municipal apps and digital portals must be opened. Sectoral or area performance must be studied to devise new systems. But the main remedy lies in fixing the institutions that are responsible for managing the city.

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

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2017