Pakistan’s largest city is usually the butt of just about everyone’s anger, wrath or jokes, depending on who you talk to. Mostly, it’s people who don’t like the PPP, which makes for a rather large group of people in the city – meaning people partial to other parties and even those who may be not pro any party but are avid social media users, and hence tend to follow the strong narrative there which insinuates that the PPP can do nothing good for Karachi, or for Sindh for that matter. Of course, that is not the reality, but in today’s world, as they say, perception is reality.
Back to Karachi and its mayor, Barrister Murtaza Wahab, known for his active and intelligent use of social media to disseminate all he’s doing for the city as its mayor. Of course, this will always have its detractors, and the most common response of the naysayers is that if he is doing anything constructive for the city, then that is his job and there’s no need to publicise it. However, given the very negative impression the PPP generally has on social media, it’s a smart move on the part of the Karachi mayor to use his social media handle.
Some of the biggest challenges Mayor Wahab faces include traffic, water, drainage, sanitation and solid waste management. For a city of over 20 million people, all these are going to be formidable challenges in themselves, even if the city were in the developed world.
There is first the issue of ownership. All of Karachi land and various neighbourhoods do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, which is controlled by the mayor. The city has over a dozen landowning agencies and hence issues related to road building, cleaning, solid waste collection, sanitation and so on need to be brought under a unified command if situations like roads being carpeted and dug up a few months later by another agency for some other work are to be avoided. That’s basic governance; and it’s shocking that this hasn’t happened so far.
For the longest time, the city’s two major entities tasked with the provision of water and sanitation, and land development were outside the control of the city’s mayor. In 2023, thankfully, better sense prevailed and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board was converted into a corporation with the mayor as its chairman, bringing this important Karachi agency under the control of the city’s elected head. However, the same needs to be done with the Karachi Development Authority. These are agencies tasked with very crucial issues for the city’s sustenance and long-term development. It is only logical that they be controlled by the authority responsible for the city’s operations and development – the office of the mayor of Karachi.
There is also the important issue of finance. The city, like all major cities in countries with functioning local governance, needs to be financially independent. And that means there should be in place revenue-generating mechanisms and streams specific to Karachi and its residents, which fund its development and the provision of amenities and basic services.
Currently, the KMC’s annual budget is Rs25 billion, which is a joke on the people of the city. The city depends in large part on transfers from the federal government, but, understandably, the mayor’s office is in an unenviable position – having to ask for funds from the federal government. Given that Karachi contributes at least a quarter of the country’s GDP and over 50 per cent of its federal tax collection, putting the city and its mayor in a position where they seem to have to beg for funds that are the city’s right is untenable.
Karachi’s mayor is young, dynamic and enterprising. He is from the city and not an outsider – he means well and is always on the move, checking up on something or the other. But at the end of the day, this is not enough given the challenges of the city. There have to be mechanisms in place that allow the city’s elected mayor independence, autonomy and control over all agencies that manage the city’s resources and also regulate its revenue streams. The latter is essential because a city the size of Karachi cannot have its development held back by red tape from the central government.
Initiatives that Mayor Wahab has discussed recently, such as his commitment to fix 106 of the city’s major roads within 60 days, are commendable and should be delivered as pledged. The mayor’s various public-partnership initiatives, especially in the development of the city’s parks, should be expanded. The possibility of the KMC issuing bonds to raise funds for the city’s development has also been mentioned by the mayor; the federal finance ministry should step forward in this regard and provide the needed guidance and help.
The provincial government should provide maximum support to the city government, which is vested in the office of the mayor. Success in Karachi and improvement in its physical infrastructure and in the quality of life of its residents are the only ways to lift the city out of the bottom of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index (in 2025, it was ranked 170 out of 173 cities). It will also be seen as a win for the PPP and provide a much-needed boost to its public image.
The writer is a journalist based in Karachi. He tweets/posts omar_quraishi and can be reached at: omarrquraishigmail.com