Contentions over tariff

THE South Asia Free Trade Agreement (Safta) which came into being on January 1, 2006, seems to have hit the usual hurdle of India-Pakistan one-upmanship. That it is not so difficult for India to sell its goods to Pakistan is borne out by the fact that during the current fiscal year Indian exports to this country are expected to cross the billion-dollar mark. On the other hand, the difficulties faced by Pakistani exporters to get even an inch hold in the Indian market can be measured by the fact that in the same period Pakistan’s exports to India are expected to be worth no more than $350 million. Still, it is not very clear why Pakistan thought it fit to circulate on the eve of the Kathmandu Saarc ministerial conference a non-paper containing a long list of what it believes to be tariff, non-tariff and para-tariff barriers raised by India to deny freer market access to Pakistani goods. Islamabad could have discussed this matter behind the scenes bilaterally instead of taking it up publicly at a multilateral forum. Perhaps not wanting to be shown up in public, India has seemingly retaliated formally by accusing Pakistan during the conference itself of not being Safta-compliant in its trading with the South Asian neighbours. According to the Pakistani version of the just concluded Kathmandu conference, India responded by saying that it intended to review the tariff concessions given to Pakistan. If this happens it would certainly deal a serious blow to the Safta process.

Predictably Pakistan has rejected the allegation. It says that just after the issuance of the notification on July 1, 2006, giving tariff concessions under the Safta agreement, India agitated that tariff concessions offered by Pakistan were subject to the Import Policy Order of Pakistan and therefore against the spirit of the agreement. Pakistan contested the Indian point of view during the SMC and rebutted the Indian charge on the grounds that import policy regulations are provided in the import regimes of all Saarc countries. Advisedly Pakistan has avoided a tit-for-tat announcing instead that it would explore all possible options to challenge the Indian move to withdraw the tariff liberalisation programme. Happily, in the meantime, New Delhi has denied having taken a unilateral decision to withdraw tariff concessions for Pakistan under Safta, saying, however, that it had the right and the option to deny Safta benefits to Pakistan because it was not receiving similar benefits from Pakistan under the agreement.

Safta has evolved a framework for the creation of a free trade zone covering 1.4 billion people with zero customs duty on the trade of practically all products in the region by the end of 2012. It requires India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to bring their duties down to 20 per cent in the first phase of the two-year period ending in 2007. In the final five-year phase ending in 2012, the 20 per cent duty will be reduced to zero through a series of annual cuts. The four least developing countries get an additional three years to reach zero duty level. But in order for Safta to achieve its goals and on schedule, India and Pakistan, the two leading economies of the region, need to cooperate rather than indulge in a wasteful game of one-upmanship.

The guessing game

THERE will be many speculations on why Benazir Bhutto has declined to attend the multi-party opposition conference to be held in London on March 24-25. Her opponents may accuse her of backtracking on the ‘charter of democracy’ accord which she had signed with Nawaz Sharif in May last year. Those in the ruling Muslim League may feel jittery about their own prospects with General Musharraf, fearing a last-minute, backdoor deal the PPP leader may strike with the general. The PML-N for now would like to believe that she is still very much on board as they are, because she has authorised a high-level delegation for participation in the combined opposition moot. One doubts if creating a stir was Ms Bhutto’s sole objective, for neither she nor her politics has been out of the news in the course of her latest stint in self-imposed exile since 1999. There may have been behind-the-scenes contacts with the Musharraf regime in recent months and it is likely that all doors have not been shut on that front just yet.

The final ‘dumping’ of the luggage from the last election that the PPP had been carrying in the form of the PPP-Patriots, and not the Sherpao-led faction of the party in the Frontier which has refused to merge with the ruling PML, is perhaps a more intriguing factor whose implications will become clearer in the months ahead. It has to be admitted that Ms Bhutto has stuck to her principled stand for now that she would not enter into any alliance with the religious right because it cannot be trusted. The MMA’s support to the government on the Seventeenth Amendment bill which legalised the 1999 military takeover and which has kept Gen Musharraf in power ever since, the religious alliance’s subsequent abstention from voting on the women’s protection bill against its known position, and its recent reneging on resigning from the assemblies are the moves on which Ms Bhutto’s suspicions are based. But as they say, there is no last word in politics. The PPP leader is holding her cards close to her chest and the ruling PML is equally reluctant to call her bluff, if bluff it is.

Registering blood banks

IN toughening its stance on private blood banks in the province, the NWFP government has taken note of unethical and unhygienic medical practices that are in large part responsible for the rising incidence of blood-borne diseases. The blood banks have been asked to register themselves with the Health Regulatory Authority within two weeks. This is an important first step towards maintaining proper standards at blood banks and ensuring that the blood received from donors and made available to those in need of transfusion is screened for dangerous pathogens that can cause diseases like Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B and Aids. Unfortunately, the commercialisation of healthcare, carelessness and the absence of medical ethics are so rampant that it is difficult to oversee the functioning of blood banks or penalise the erring ones. As a result, many units in the country are least bothered about ensuring that blood is stored at the right temperature and not beyond the expiry date, and is not contaminated with germs. Little effort is made to verify the donor’s medical background or to discourage professional donors such as drug addicts whose use of shared needles have made them especially prone to disease-causing agents. These, in turn, are transmitted to unsuspecting patients. There is no culture of voluntary blood donation and no attempt at promoting it. One can imagine the danger this poses to patients who require regular transfusions, such as those suffering from thalassaemia.

One hopes that the NWFP will seal all such units that do not comply with the instructions to register themselves. After ensuring that they do, it should strictly monitor them and ensure that transfusion patients are not being given contaminated blood. Moreover, promoting voluntary blood donation is necessary to discourage professional donors. But this can only be effective if the health authorities take an active part in encouraging healthy donors to give blood.

Land scams galore in Karachi

THE past few weeks have been eventful where land scams in Karachi are concerned. A list of 98 land grabbers in Gadap Town was released. The listed people had either violated lease conditions or occupied a portion of state land without legal rights.

In the same vein, the government of Sindh declared the existence of over 1,000 new katchi abadis in different parts of the city on state land. Gutter Baghicha, a prize parcel of amenity land, is being allotted to political favourites without the legal course being followed.

Clandestine subdivisions and marketing of land along the Karachi Northern Bypass is another grey area in land management. Disputed land use, conversion of railway land for real estate projects, transaction of Bundal and Buddo islands, high-rise developments and the unabated land reclamation along the Mai Kolachi bypass are only a few indicators of land management irregularities in Karachi.

Similarly, the federal government acquired an exceptionally wide land strip for the construction of the Lyari Expressway. The move has created the lucrative provision of over 1.8 million square yards of land for real estate and speculation.

In order to restore sanity in development approach and rationality in land use, determination, transaction and documentation, several factors need to be studied in an objective manner.

The current regime has clear intentions to use land as a commodity for sale and as an enterprise to generate quick revenues. This business has the lowest risk for the government with a sure possibility of windfall profits. Therefore, to remove the various hurdles, the legal framework has been trimmed down to suit the whims of our decision-makers.

In November 2006, the Sindh legislature repealed the Sindh Disposal of Urban Land Ordinance (SDULO) of 2002. According to the movers of this legal initiative, the SDULO 2002 created red tape in the allotment of land for welfare projects. Urban planning experts regarded this step as an attempt to demolish transparency in land allotments. This move helped to promote discretionary powers as against institutionalised procedures.

The whole initiative of commodification of land is a direct outcome of the neo-liberal political doctrine that is being blindly followed by Islamabad and its power extensions in provincial capitals including Karachi. In the conventional approach of governance, land was regarded as a social asset that was placed under state control and under a contract of trusteeship. Allocation, allotment and pricing of land were all acts that had to be decided according to public needs. Technical merits and the neutrality of procedures were key pre-requisites. Seemingly, all these balancing merits are being undone by the centralist approach of decision-making and implementation.

If the Sindh government wanted it could have used the provisions of SDULO 2002 for structuring an efficient and transparent land management mechanism. For example, the contents of the law made it essential to document the land as a pre-requisite for disposal. This automatically implied the survey and re-survey of land parcels, the authentication of previously executed surveys and the addition of updated information.

The government also could have fairly established reserve prices of land parcels especially commercial and industrial lands. The transaction of amenity plots was also to be streamlined. The law entitled the government to prepare and notify rules and regulations for the routine functioning of land-owning and managing agencies. Much of the SDULO 2002 remained unfulfilled.

Land is a finite resource. Sindh, as a province, had considerable reserves of state land which later fell within the limits of urban areas. Historically, this land which was considered an asset was carefully utilised for residential, commercial, agricultural, recreational, industrial and other purposes, at least in the large cities. But it began to be viewed as a tradable commodity. This gave rise to a land market which was entirely uncontrolled. Nascent market forces determined the utilisation and transaction of land compared to rational public choices. With no thought being given to the social, ecological or long-term economic aspects, land transaction continues unabated.

Political interest has been one of the prime factors determining land supply. This interest has superseded urban and regional planning considerations, objectives and policies of the administration, fiscal liabilities and even legal limitations. The chief ministers of various governments played a key role in land allotment due to the infinite authority vested in their office and their political clout.

Bypassing laws, regulations and norms has thus become a routine exercise which does not let any land supply mechanism function. In brief, land parcels have been allotted due to political pressure. Political bribes have also been given in the form of land. The announcement and cancellation of housing schemes has been done on the same basis.

Land disposal schemes mostly developed as a clandestine marriage of convenience rather than a transparent and equal opportunity enterprise. The attempts made in this respect have been severely criticised by the users, the media and experts. Only recently, the government finalised the allotment of about 19,000 acres of land for the Education City project. It has created many doubts. For example, subsidised land has been offered to many institutions operating on commercial objectives without providing relief to the common people.

Traditionally, existing patterns of land ownership have a direct bearing on its transition in the urban scenario. Clan influences, appropriation and possession of land are important factors that govern the direction of development. When land was in private hands under traditional landlords, they lobbied with public sector officials to devise development policies/priorities to maximise their own benefit.

The planning and development of communication schemes, transportation projects and investment in infrastructure schemes were largely manipulated on the same basis. The fringes of large cities are the most important choices in this regard.

Proper preparation and updating of land records and their communication to all stakeholders is a pre-requisite for effective land management. Seventeen years ago, the now defunct KMC commissioned a broad-based study of urban land use and management. The study, which was supported by the World Bank, aimed at analysing the various trends and dynamics of land utilisation patterns. It provided a comprehensive analysis of the urban land market, real estate trends in various key locations, informal settlements and legal and administrative elements affecting overall land supply and development.

Although the study was undertaken as part of the Karachi Special Development Project under donor assistance, it served as a useful tool for understanding Karachi’s use of land and the development scenario.

However, like many similar attempts, it soon lost its significance as it could neither be updated nor properly utilised for generating any appropriate planning and development mechanism.

The other irony is the fact that vital issues identified in the study are still valid today without an iota of difference in the situation. It would be useful to relate the present land situation to the findings of that study to understand the prevailing dynamics.

The floating mechanism for land and housing is so designed that speculation automatically evolves in the process. Land development agencies from civilian and military domain allot land parcels at a very low selling price. As the owner completes the formalities, he already possesses the opportunity of delaying construction and accruing profits on idle land. Since powerful interest groups benefit from this in-built procedural defect, they are averse to any change in the practice.

Regulatory controls in the form of non-utilisation fees or any other form of levies are either non-enforceable or too minuscule to bother the property owners.

A simple outcome is the artificial rise in property demands that results in a rush supply of land and housing without any urban planning blueprint. Land sales along Super Highway, Defence Society and those near major transportation projects are examples. These instances render land management and control an even more uphill task.

An absolutely uncontrolled market mechanism soon becomes a detrimental entity for stakeholders themselves. In Karachi, the impotence of land control bodies has always been in evidence. Vested interests, in connivance with government functionaries, have managed to keep planning agencies and building/town planning control departments separate from each other. Thus urban planning, wherever and whenever performed, is only a ritual. Nobody is bound or regulated to follow its prescriptions.

In the prevailing scenario, the government’s random actions and clandestine decisions give rise to serious doubts. If the government assigns any respect for the transparency and efficiency for its projects, it must take a few steps without any further delay.

One, a list of state-owned land parcels and reserves must be prepared and published for public benefit. This would be greatly useful in stemming the surreptitious disposal of state land by officials and policymakers. It would also serve as a vital knowledge base for urban and regional planning for Karachi.

Two, an efficient land information system must be created and made accessible to the public. Such a system acts as a multifaceted database and information repository which is continuously adjusted according to periodical changes in the land development status.

Three, the Sindh legislature must consider promulgating a revised piece of law to streamline the disposal of urban lands. Without a guiding legal framework, little benefit can be expected from other initiatives.

Four, the sales, changes in usage and state of urban lands must conform to a development plan for the city which is valid and derives consensus from all technical and professional quarters. Without a valid city plan, land scams shall continue to haunt our cities for a long time.