The story of development

The completion of the Lyari Expressway 15 years after work on the project first began is perhaps understandably being seen as a major accomplishment by the PML-N government. At the inauguration ceremony in Karachi, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi declared that the PML-N not only starts major projects but also completes those started by others. While the PML-N does have a better-than-others track record of starting and completing major projects, perhaps some introspection may be needed on whether the Lyari Expressway ever needed to be constructed in the first place. The original Karachi Master Plan in the 1970s had proposed two major bypasses linking the northern and southern parts of the city. The Southern Bypass would have gone through the most upscale neighbourhoods in the city and so was abandoned because of the disruption it would cause to the elite. The Lyari Expressway was conceived as an alternative. The problem was that 100,000 people would need to be evicted – the largest displacement ever for the construction of a road. Since it was first mooted in 1986, the Lyari Expressway was constantly delayed because of the opposition of those living in its path. Various governments launched smears campaigns against the citizens who were to be affected by the expressway. Eventually, they were evicted, but not all of them were resettled as promised. The inauguration of the Lyari Expressway – which is, no doubt, a major development project – should also remind us of how the state has always treated the powerless.

Successive governments in Pakistan have pursued development works without acknowledging that the type of development they pursue may not be what we need; in this, the PML-N government is hardly any different. So, while no one denies that traffic in Karachi is a mess and that planned development is essential, all this has to be pursued in an orderly and logical manner. That means development causing disruption to the minimum number of people possible, and protecting heritage sites. In the case of the Lyari Expressway, the original alternative would have been the better option since it would not have led to forced mass evictions. The truth is that the story of development in this country is one of putting the desires of the elite over the needs of everyone else. Eminent domain laws are only supposed to be used sparingly in cases where the state has no option but to acquire private land. In practice, they have been abused for the benefit of large developers, the government and the wealthy. Pakistan’s cities – especially a megapolis like Karachi – need to seriously start thinking of planned, sustainable development.