Experts warn against unplanned proliferation of high-rise buildings

Karachi

All the high-rises coming up in Karachi are concentrated in a confined area, namely Clifton. This implies a massive water requirement which is not forthcoming under the present tanker system.

This was stated by Nooruddin Ahmed, of the think-tank committee of the Institution of Engineers-Pakistan (IEP), while talking to a discussion group at the IEP that met to discuss the civic and environmental problems of the city.

“Calculate the number of water tankers that would be required to cater to the needs of these high rises. It is painful to see that nobody challenges such plans,” he lamented.

The present setup, he said, was not capable of seeing things through. He regretted that the government had totally given up participation in developing and building activity and that the builders’ syndicates had been given licenses for Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Korangi, followed later by other localities.

He was skeptical of this move and said that there was unbridled building activity as, in Karachi, real estate generated most revenue. He also criticised the solid waste management problem of the city, citing the innumerable heaps of garbage all over town.

Town planner and environmentalist Farhan Anwar, in his very erudite and in-depth discourse, traced the birth of the post-industrial revolution cities starting with the imbalance in the resource position, their over-exploitation and degradation.

He said that today 60 percent of the world population lived in the cities which meant increased consumerism and hence an increase in greenhouse gases as a result of burning of more fossil fuels. After the industrialisation, he said, average incomes increased which resulted in over-exploitation of resources. Growth, Anwar said, could not be at the cost of the environment.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he said, were all about prosperity; people; planet; partnership; and peace. He stressed the need for good governance and strong institutions. “Before embarking on the SDGs, planners should determine as to where the cities stand as regards the targets of the goals.”

Dr Nauman, head of the Department of Architecture, NED University, said that over-urbanisation was extending towards the southern part of the country and in this context, said that the planned Zulfikarabad city project was far too big an enterprise and would have adverse environmental and social effects.

He cited the dwindling law and order situation and the investor-unfriendly environment. To that, he added, the diminishing municipal capacity to manage the usual urban infrastructure in secondary cities.

Some of the policy interventions he suggested were:

-- For Karachi, a regional planning agency needs to be created.

-- A secondary cities rehabilitation policy needed.

-- Resurrect urban status for secondary cities with tangible boundaries.

Badar Khan of the IEP think tank said that housing, according to the Constitution of the country, was the basic right of every citizen. As such, he said that he had plans to have low-cost houses and housing schemes built as also the refurbishing of shanty towns.

He regretted that open paces were a vanishing phenomenon in the city and warned that if shanty towns were not refurbished, pretty soon the whole city would be a shanty town.

A whole lot of discussants called for empowerment of the city and local governments.

Roland D’Souza called for involvement of the young people and for getting women to work on issues.

He lamented that we had corrupt administrations that skimmed off money and, yet each time, they were voted in.