Perhaps in terms of civic development and municipal
amenities to its citizens, the 2016 has been one of the worst year for Karachi.
Unplanned under-construction projects, road-side diggings and encroachments,
mounts of garbage almost everywhere, severe water shortage and traffic mismanagements
remained the hallmarks of the city this year, that ranks the city this year at
6th among the worst cities in Global Livability Ranking.
With the holding of local bodies elections in late
2015, it was hoped that with the arrival of elected councilors and mayor of
Karachi many of the civic and municipal problems would be resolved sooner or
later, but it took more than eight months for the new Mayor to take the charge
of his authority. Although even before his taking of the charge, the condition
of the city was as pathetic as it is today. Mayor Waseem Akhter complains for
lacking of funds to adequately run his local government, though his excuse is
not unjustified but still there are many fields where he is independent and
equipped enough to deliver and facilitate people living here.
There are many reasons for the current chaos of the city.
If judiciously analyzed the two foremost are the people' inaccessibility to the
basic amenities and various unfinished under-construction projects where work
is not in progress presently. In this scenario unthinkable start of new development projects have not
only multiplied the local problems but are adding health and social miseries with
each passing day.
More importantly instead of operating and managing all these developments projects under one
civic body or corporation, various new departments like Karachi Infrastructure Development
Company and Local government Project also came into existence this year to execute the majority
of new projects. Both are the new entrants in the megacity, where already other
multiple civic bodies like Cantonment Boards, D.H.A., Pakistan Railways,
Karachi Port Trust, Civil Aviation Authority and etc. are already functional
with their own development schemes and civil services.
Naming a few incomplete projects in public sector is
vital here. Specially the Malir 15 Bridge, the Nazimbabd Under pass and widening
of Shafiq turn bridge are substantial construction schemes for Karachites, each
required 24-hour work because they exist in dense residential areas and pivotal
for smooth commutation. All three projects should have been completed year ago
but not only work is stopped on them right now but roadside diggings and laying
of construction materials alongside contributing adversaries in the civic life.
The situation of public gardens and green belts of
the city is equally pathetic. Major parks like Bagh Ibn e Qasim, Bagh e Jinnah
and Beach park are in degrading state while hundreds of other locality parks badly
lack routine maintenance and staff for
their survival. So are the situation of important green belts running alongside
key roads like Shahra e Faisal, Shahra e Pakistan, University Road, etc, where grass
is vanished from these belts while trees are crassly untrimmed. However, what
was more scandalous is mass cutting of some 18,000 trees to pave way the Green
Line Bus Project and another 12,000 during widening of the University
Road. Besides to establish cattle market for keeping
sacrificial animals for sale on Eidul
Azha nearly 540 fully grown Neem trees
on Superhighway were chopped down. All
that deforestation was done by public
sector on the name of development
Mounds of garbage
and filthy material can be seen steadily piling up almost at every major
locality and roadsides, creating hurdles for foot and vehicular traffic. There
remained an tussle between KMC and Sindh government throughout the year over solid
waste management. Neither the Sindh government transferred this subject to the
newly formed Solid Waste Management Authority nor the KMC brought any
improvement in this regard as it always kept complaining that the Corporation
doesn't have enough funds to pay salaries to sweepers and fuel' money for
garbage lifting vehicles. Finally on 29 December the provincial government has
reportedly contracted a private Chinese firm to provide garbage clean-up and
disposal services in Karachi.
However, nothing was as serious and scarce among basic
municipal amenities as the water supply in the city whole year. Shortage of water
was persistent because of frequent bursts
of supply pipeline on numerous occasions and areas while absence of electricity
at pumping stations were also the second other but routine cause which has
forced the city residents to increase dependency on tanker mafia this year.
However, the kick off of K4 worth Rs. 25.5 billion in March that will provide
650 million gallons of water daily to Karachi was welcome news for the
citizens. Similarly the Karachi Sewage Treatment Project S3 worth Rs. 8 billion
to treat 460 million gallon per day is the other prominent achievement of the KWSB this year.
Major development projects that have been launched
this year include the Green Line Bus Lane from North Karachi to Guru Mandir,
Improvement of University Road and Renovation of Tariq Road to name a few,
besides a number of other development schemes launched under Local Government
Project. However, works on these schemes at a time has created a mess in the city creating severe traffic
jam on daily basis and other environs' issues, that are causing multiple health
problems.
Another laudable step that has been taken this year
was in May when Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the KMC, D.H.A., and all the Cantonments to remove all billboards and signboards across the city by June 30 as there is no law that permits installing outdoor adertising hoardings on "public property". The order aimed to
ensure the safety of public and to achieve city-wide uniformity for installation of Billboards.
In other basic amenities like health, education and
sports facilities, the contribution of the city and provincial governments
remains unnoticeable. Overall the 2016 is not a year where Karachi is seen as a
ideal metropolitan in terms of livability and prosperity.
By
Editorial, Infocus
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