Karachi needs $9-10b to keep it going: WB

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has estimated that Pakistan’s metropolitan city Karachi needs $9 to $10 billion financing over a period of ten years to meet its infrastructure and service delivery requirements in urban transport, water supply and sanitation and municipal solid waste management.

The WB report titled “Transforming Karachi into a Livable and Competitive Megacity: A City Diagnostic and Transformation Strategy” released on Tuesday stated that Karachi needs around US $9 to 10 billion of financing over a ten-year period to meet its requirements.

With a population of 16 million, Karachi is the largest megacity in Pakistan. Despite being a large city that is home to many, it has seen a substantial decline in quality of life and economic competitiveness in recent decades. Basic service delivery is very poor, with very low indicators for water supply, sanitation, public transport and public spaces. Pollution levels are high, and the city is vulnerable to disasters and climate change.

A highly complex political economy, institutional fragmentation, land contestation, crime and security issues and social exclusion exacerbate these issues and make city management challenging.

The Karachi City Diagnostic and Transformation Strategy attempts to present detailed data on economy, livability and key urban services of the city, by identifying and quantifying the requirements to bridge the services gap in the city.

It also proposes pathways towards the transformation of Karachi into a more livable, inclusive and economically competitive city by outlining policy actions that the city can undertake. Unclear roles, overlapping functions, and poor coordination amongst various agencies responsible for city governance and management have worsened the city’s problems. Municipal and city development functions are highly fragmented, with roughly 20 agencies across different levels of government – Federal, Provincial and local – performing these functions, leading to lack of coordinated planning and integration at the city level. These agencies also control nearly 90 percent of land in Karachi, but are reluctant to make it available for development. Public investment in infrastructure is reactive and uncoordinated, with a persistent focus on extension over preventive maintenance or rehabilitation.

Elected local governments in the city have weak systems and capacity; and are not empowered to deliver many municipal functions. The provincial government retains substantial control over various city services and functions, such as master planning, building control, water and sewerage, solid waste management and development of peri-urban and peripheral lands. Local governments are in an extremely weak financial position, relying almost solely on transfers from the provincial government to meet their budgetary needs, of which a majority is spent on salaries and pensions – leaving precious little for much-needed maintenance or development of infrastructure.

Building inclusive, coordinated and accountable service delivery institutions: Create strong coordination mechanisms among various public land owning and service delivery agencies. Improve the ability of these agencies to plan, finance and manage development programmes. Empower local governments to take the lead in city management.

Greening Karachi for sustainability and resilience: Invest in environmentally-sustainable infrastructure gaps and safeguard funds for its maintenance. Create mechanism to protect vulnerable groups from the negative impacts of economic growth and climate change. Build a resilient and sustainable environment with an emphasis on livability and regeneration.

Leveraging on Karachi’s economic, social and environmental assets: Involve private sector in infrastructure provision by creating an enabling environment via policy reforms. Create incentives for more efficient performance of service delivery agencies. Improve the ease of doing business and encourage public-private partnerships. Reduce delays and discretionary power for key business transactions under city and provincial authorities. Improve cost recovery and revenue collection for basic services while safeguarding vulnerable groups such as the poor. Leverage the city’s land assets (such as state-owned land in prime locations) to finance critical infrastructure. Creating a smart Karachi through policies and use of smart tools and technologies: Innovate with smart policies to better manage city services, improve economic competitiveness, and facilitate engagement with citizens. Interventions should also focus on improving the ease of doing business to help enable economic growth and job creation.