Karachi dwellers are made to bear more rosy promises. Foremost of them is the revival of Karachi Circular Railways (KCR). This time the prime minister has come forward with a strong worded statement on 22 October urging upon the concerned quarters to implement the revival of KCR without delay.

The City District Government (CDGK) is nervously moving ahead with its tall claims of development works completed in its tenure. This is obviously done in the wake of the forthcoming local elections next year where the present incumbents are likely to face a tough resistance from their arch rivals.

Federal and provincial governments keep announcing their own versions of development packages in different sectors and locations. Amply supported by multi-lateral and bilateral donor agencies, these packages sound to be fairly comprehensive in approach and stretch. However with this spread-out development activity, the outcomes in the real sense of the word is not experienced by the city dwellers.

A fundamental flaw in this whole scenario is the confusion caused by the programme-based approach adopted by policy makers, administrators and professionals without questioning its validity for urban development. This aspect needs to be reviewed in its true perspective.

A programme is a specific framework prepared to achieve well defined objectives. In the usual cases, it generates finite outputs with objectively verifiable indicators. There could be many reasons to initiate a programme. State institutions launch development programmes to achieve specified development outputs. Public sector development programme (PSDP) is an example which comprises the largest basket of projects that are implemented on a nation-wide basis. Donor agencies push forward development programmes to achieve such targets which are deemed appropriate from their perspectives.

The Sindh Special Development Programme is an example which was implemented in mid 90s to provide vital physical infrastructure in designated locations. Political regimes launch development programmes to obtain political mileage apart from realizing routine development goals. Prime Minister Junejo's Five Point Programme; People's Programme by the regimes of Peoples Party and Tameer-e-Watan Programme by the Muslim League government are examples. Non-government actors also follow a programme based approach in several sectors.

The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, which was applied in the Northern Areas, became a model for promoting development in rural areas of Pakistan. While following a programme-based approach appears very Target-oriented and efficient, it falls short of achieving the goals of managing and developing urban and regional contexts such as Karachi on a continuous basis. A plan-based approach is essential for addressing the complex and multiplying problems which have to be addressed on a recurring basis.

A plan is based on a vision which is collectively developed for a context and agreed upon by the stakeholders. Through a professionally generated process of identifying and assessing the problems and issues, it analyses the situation in an objective manner. The analysis generates conclusions leading to alternative development scenarios. These scenarios are extrapolated to pre- judge the potential impacts that they may generate in case of their implementation. Their relevance and link-up with the vision of the city is also correlated.

In order to realize the vision and achieve the prescriptions of the scenarios, a broad range of programmes and projects are formulated. This whole process continuously draws feedback from stakeholders of varied ranks and profiles in order to make the planning exercise as accommodating as possible. A watchful process of monitoring and evaluation keeps a check whether the programmes / projects are in consonance with the overall visions of the plan. Programmes without visions / plan may appear to be an aimless exercise without relevance.

Unfortunately Karachi has been plagued by programmes and packages of all sorts for atleast the past three decades without a legally adopted development plan. Whereas billions of rupees have been spent in these programmes, they have not been able to achieve even the immediate targets despite being efficient in spending allocated budgets. There are several reasons for this state of affairs.

Many programmes were isolated attempts either focusing a specific area or sector without considering the relationship with the larger city network. For instance, Karachi Urban Development Project was implemented in the early 1990s to provide essential infrastructure in some low income localities in the western part of the city. The project did not consider the sustainability of water supply source which was to feed these localities.

As a result, when the source went dry, the infrastructure became redundant. Similarly the Karachi mass Transit Programme was initiated to address the issues of commuter movement in the city. This programme required extra ordinarily high scale funds and massive adjustments along right of way which were beyond the capacities of implementing agencies. The result is that it lies in doldrums even after a decade of its initiation.

Some programmes were technically deficient or faulty in design and management procedures. Greater Karachi Sewerage Scheme assumed that the city sewerage was all disposed through underground sewers. Based on faulty assumptions and inaccurate data, it prepared a scheme which laid down a network of large underground trunk sewers. The scheme completely disregarded the gradients, existing flow patterns and volumes. It also ignored the glaring fact that the city sewage was in fact largely carried by the open storm water drains or mullahs directly into the sea.

Many programmes and projects were designed and implemented without stakeholder participation. The Lyari Expressway was developed by the government as a solution for traffic congestion in the inner city area. The project ruthlessly evicted thousands of people from their abodes. Whether the project would be able to cause any improvement in the traffic congestion is yet to be seen. However it has so far proven to be an extremely expensive under taking with dubious design prescriptions.

Several programmes were made to lose their vitality due to unprecedented institutional changes. A Solid Waste management Department was created in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (now defunct) during 1990s as a consequence of a donor funded programme. Dozens of staff members were trained, vehicles were procured and a comprehensive operational plan was prepared to manage the solid waste on scientific formats.

After the inception of devolution plan, the KMC ceased to exist. The SWM Department was disbanded. The staff and vehicles were transferred without any logical consideration with the result that the city is experiencing worst status of solid waste management.

It is a proven fact that programes without any link-up to a planning framework cannot generate sustainable outputs. A plan and its corresponding implementation framework remains under public scrutiny and check. Therefore the decision making and implementation is likely to be done in consultation with the stakeholders. Besides planning framework are continuing platforms that can effectively take stock of finite programmes according to their respective mandates and targets.

It may be noticed that the City District Government, Karachi is currently engaged in the useful task of preparing Karachi Development Plan-2020. However, in terms of policy, approach and methodology, the same mistake is being repeated. This plan, which should have been an all encompassing framework for the entire city development, is made a component of the ongoing Tameer-e-Karachi Programme.

In the interest of the city, this lacunae must be removed. Besides, it must be made a continuous exercise with suitable funds and technical manpower resources allocated to it. Unless done with the correct approach that a master planning exercise of this stature truly requires, the plan may not be able to fulfil its technical and managerial obligations.