3. Urban development in Pakistan
• Pakistan inherits the riches of the Gandhara civilization
• Pakistan has been under the influence of cultures that
took pride in creating planned cities
• For instance, the sewerage system in the ruins of Taxila
demonstrates the engineering genius of the past
civilizations.
6. • The current dilapidated state of large and small towns in
Pakistan is at complete odds with the rich heritage of
town planning
• Dumps of waste scattered all over the cities
• open sewers carrying human and other waste
• insufficient supply of potable water
• Haphazard Development patterns that produce chronic
traffic congestion and noise
• lack of public spaces
• and most important of all, persistent poverty,
characterize today’s urban Pakistan.
11. URBAN CHALLENGES
• Housing and land policies
• Infrastructure Deficit
• Urban Poverty & Unemployment
• Incoherent Future Ambitions For Urban
Pakistan
• Devolution Plan
12.
13. Housing and land Challenges
• The 1998 decennial census revealed that there were
19.3 million housing units available for a population of
130 million. This represented a housing backlog of
almost 4.3 million units.
• The current estimate of the housing backlog is around
6.0 million.
• The annual construction of housing units is around
300,000 units, whereas the requirement is around
570,000 units.
14. Housing and land policies
• The development authorities in urban Pakistan have
been transferring the state-owned land at nominal prices
to housing schemes, which are often managed by the
military or civil elite. Such housing schemes develop the
land and transfer parcels to their members, which in turn
sell the developed land in open markets where land
prices are very high.
• The fact remains that housing needs of low- and middle-
income households, who constitute the bottom of the
pyramid, have remained largely unmet, resulting in huge
housing backlogs.
15. Infrastructure Deficit
• Less than 1% of waste water is treated in Pakistan. The
rest is dumped into ravines, streams, and rivers
• The metropolitan governments recover fewer than 50%
of the solid waste generated in the cities. The rest is left
to rot on the streets.
• The dumped waste pollutes the groundwater and the
incinerated waste creates air pollution.
16. Infrastructure Deficit
• Lahore, a sprawling metropolis of seven million, has
fewer than 100 traffic lights, which are insufficient
measures of traffic management. The result is severe
traffic congestion.
• In the federal capital, Islamabad, even the well off
communities face chronic water shortages.
17. Urban Poverty & Unemployment
• Consider that the largest and the fastest growing cohort
in Pakistan is between the ages of 15 and 25 years of
age.
• In urban areas, more often than not, the youth are
educated. However, gainful employment, even for the
educated youth, remains elusive.
18.
19. Urban Poverty & Unemployment
• Add to this the lack of entrepreneurship, and the result is
an army of unemployed youth, who are readily drafted by
the mafia or other degenerated groups.
• This may be the reason behind the increase in violent
crime in the last decade in Pakistan.
• With the coming of age of large number of unemployed,
educated youth in urban Pakistan, the severity of
challenges is only likely to increase.
21. Incoherent Future Ambitions For Urban Pakistan
• Another challenge in urban Pakistan is the intolerance
towards the diversity of views and virtues for the future of
urban Pakistan.
• On one hand are the conservatives who would like to
see the economic growth of cities divorced from the
cultural evolution and diversity.
• On the other hand are the pragmatists who see cultural
evolution a natural outcome of the urbanization process.
• The lack of tolerance towards divergent views continues
to pull urban Pakistan in different directions, which is not
conducive for growth and development.
22. Devolution Plan
• Under the devolution plan, a new system of municipal
governance has been laid out in Pakistan.
• The salient features include :
– Emancipation of women (more than 25% of the 130,000-odd
municipal representatives are women)
– Devolution of power for local decision making
– The formation of citizen community boards (CCBs) to engage
the community in the decision making process
23. These changes, accompanied with
the much-needed municipal financial
reform, which is yet to occur, are
likely to bring positive change in
urban Pakistan….
