Steps urged to tackle rapid urbanisation

LAHORE :Punjab Economic Research Institute (PERI) Director Dr Mumtaz Anwar Director has said that high percentage of young population of the country is an asset that needs to be facilitated by providing them with adequate job opportunities, skills training and high quality education.

He was addressing a seminar on “How to Make Punjab’s Cities More Competitive” organised by Punjab Economic Research Institute (PERI), Planning and Development Department in collaboration with The Urban Unit.

Dr Nasir Javed, CEO, The Urban Unit, Dr Qaiser Bengali, noted economist, Dr Shujaat Ali, ex-federal secretary, Statistics Division and Muhammad Naveed Iftikhar, public policy practitioner, participated in discussion. The seminar focused on how the rapid increase in the population growth in Pakistan, as indicated by the recent Census 2017, had brought to light the need for cities to become more competitive by providing decent livelihoods to the residents as well improving the quality of life in the urban areas.

Senior government officials, chairpersons of various universities, economists, academicians, journalists and representatives from social organisations attended the session. Dr Mumtaz Anwar director, PERI, informed the participants about the efforts being made by PERI for bringing together the academicians, practitioners and government officials to discuss policy matters. He highlighted the importance of urban planning by discussing how unrestricted rural-urban migration coupled with high growth rates of population in the country was likely to result in the pressure on the limited resources of the urban centres to become unsustainable.

He was of the view that an evidence-based policy research was required to find mechanisms for tackling these problems.  The speakers explained the consequences of the rapid urbanisation. It was agreed that currently, the economic situation of the country was such wherein jobs in the agriculture and the manufacturing sector were far less than desired. With the Census 2017 predicting a higher rate of urbanisation in the future, it has become crucial to make cities more competitive by providing decent jobs to the youth, improve the quality of life of the citizens and make cities an engine of growth and prosperity.

Dr Nasir Javed stressed on the need for the efficient use of land upon which economic activities could be generated, consequently, enhancing the productivity of the cities. He was of the view that in today’s era of globalisation more than countries, now cities have become competitive so there was need to work on the policies accordingly.

Dr Qaiser Bengali talked on how the cities in Pakistan should be working towards reducing transaction costs. Muhammad Naveed Iftikhar stated that the confluence of increase in youth population and urbanisation was going to shape the future of Pakistan. However, there is very little research and dialogue on making the cities more competitive. He cited the examples of other countries which had been successful in making their urban areas conducive to economic and social prosperity.

Dr Shujaat Ali said that economic analysis was integral to devising a concrete policy with respect to public governance in general, and urban planning, more particularly urban housing management. The seminar concluded with urging the policy makers to use the international best practices and customise their policies to suit the local needs. It was also recommended that a culture of entrepreneurship be developed to boost economic activity in the country. Increased efforts to establish public-private partnership was also advocated.