KARACHI: Absence of measures to properly de-silt all drains of the city, ensure proper disposal of waste, flaws in recent roadworks along with the fast decline in city’s green cover are some major factors which caused urban flooding during the rains, said urban planning experts on Friday.

Speaking about the city’s vulnerable civic infrastructure that collapsed due to the heavy showers, the experts called for immediate evacuation of those stranded in low-lying areas, especially those along Lyari and Malir rivers, as the situation would worsen in case of more rain.

Regretting lack of government preparations ahead of monsoon, Dr Noman Ahmed, who heads the Department of Architecture and Planning at the NED University of Engineering and Technology, said the city had been a victim of poor governance for a long time.

“Such an exercise [drain cleaning] should have been conducted at least six to seven months prior to the monsoon season. What aggravated the situation, however, is the continued absence of a proper waste disposal system in the city as well as the recently carried out poor road re-carpeting and repairs,” he said.

Flaws in roadworks

Dr Ahmed, who visited different parts of the city to observe how they were being affected by rain, said the repairs lacked sound technical approach, as the size of the drain inlet along University Road from Nipa to Hasan Square had been made too small.

“There are serious flaws in the recent reconstruction/repairs of roads. For instance, water collected near the Urdu University was not going into the drain.

“Similarly, the drainage on the stretch from Civic Centre up to Jail Chowrangi flyover was being affected by waste dumps and other obstructions,” explained Dr Ahmed. He added that the absence of a drainage system near Karachi City Railway Station also led to flooding on I.I. Chundrigar Road.

“Unfortunately, this site has been without a drainage system since 2006 when it was completely redone during the city’s beautification plan. The then officials concerned were informed about the flaw but they didn’t do anything to fix it,” he said.

The senior architect found the newly re-carpeted roads damaged at many places, exposing the use of low quality material. “Also, the level of roads is uneven, which affects water flow. A simple principle is to keep neighbouring streets and lanes a little above the main road which should be connected with drain/s. This helps prevent flooding of residential areas,” he said.

Blame game

Dr Ahmed described the whole situation as unfortunate. “Nobody is ready to take the responsibility. Some officials blame the Provincial Disaster Management Authority for the mess but when you talk to them, they would say the department is only responsible for relief and rescue and not for development and rehabilitation.

“On the other hand, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation complains of funds’ shortage. It seems to have no coordination with the local district municipal corporations,” he said.

In response to a question about strategy the government should adopt for rain emergency, he said immediate focus should be the areas more vulnerable to flooding such as Malir and Saadi Town which had suffered massive damage. Also the areas along Malir and Lyari rivers required early attention for which the government should mobilise the community and evacuate people from there before the situation turned worse, he added.

“The government should act fast as rain spell is expected to continue. The KMC should work on a maintenance plan, find out missing elements in the city’s infrastructure and fix them.”

Trained volunteer force

The city, he believed, didn’t need more development projects. Rather, there should be concerted effort to keep the infrastructure that we already have in good shape. “The government should also learn from other countries fighting flooding and set up a trained volunteer force to combat such situations. It’s not the Rangers’ job to carry out rescue operation in rain emergency.”

Concrete jungle

Farhan Anwar, senior urban planner who heads Sustainable Initiatives, a non-governmental organisation, pointed to the sharp decline in city’s green cover and said that it acted as a filtration basin. “Such spaces absorb water and help prevent flooding. Such spaces have been lost at an alarming rate while the city has expanded tremendously over the years,” he said, adding that massive encroachment on city’s major drains also contributed to flooding.

“And, there are many areas which lack proper drainage. For instance, one track of Tariq Road was flooded today while the other was clear, suggesting technical flaw in road designing,” he said.

Most of the recently constructed drains in the DHA, he said, carried sewage though they were meant for rainwater.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2017

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