KARACHI HAS BECOME UN-LIVEABLE CITY OF THE WORLD

KARACHI, the 7th largest city of the world, is at 137th place on the list of 140 cities of the world’s most un-liveable cities, as per statistics of 2018 due to the following essential- requirements of life which are either un-available or available with high cost of living.

1.      ELECTRICITY

K-Electric , the monopolistic vertically integrated power utility has failed to supply power to the consumers and Government have serious reservations on its operation & maintenance by its management due to prolong unscheduled load-shedding since years of its privatization , high cost of billing , Thefts of electricity , line-losses up to 40%, revenue losses, poor infra-structure of its Transmission and distribution system, old and obsolete power generating units, utility culture and the most important ,its mal-practices and corruption. It is feared that the Utility would be expected to provide reliable power supply to Karachi considering the current situation and problems being experienced by the consumers, therefore both Residential and Industrial consumers are now hopeless and are fed-up of life in the city resulting in closure of Industrial Units, which is ultimately resulting in un-employment, and life below poverty level as middle class is unable to work or earn their livelihood without Electricity. Keeping in view of the facts, Government of Pakistan must fully support in principle to restructure K-Electric , which is the need of time to develop the out-lines of a competitive , modern and dynamic power sector in Karachi which meets the ends of consumers in the cheapest and most efficient manner which are being provided in the metropolitan cities of at least in ASIA. Immediate Focus must be on the proper design of a comprehensive system, by restructuring k-electric in to one GENCO, comprising of all its power plants with future extension of clean energy as wind power, solar power plants and Garbage power plant to consume the Debris of the city which has no any place to dumping to clean the city. The 4 distribution companies must be established in the four Districts of Karachi for Transmission and Distribution of power, for which the required infrastructure needed to be put in place to up-grade and modernize its power control centres. At this stage primary focus is on achieving the effective implementation of a power exchange system among the companies under current NEPRA act 1997.

2. WATER

Scarcity of Drinking water is the second most serious issue of Karachi. Taking a swipe at the KWSB chief and other authorities for their failure to ensure smooth supply of water to parts of the city, the honorable chief Justice of Pakistan established a Water Board Commission, asking all the stake-holders to work together for resolving water related issues of the city under his kind supervision as head of the judicial commission, new annexi building , High court of Sindh Karachi, but the commission report is neither known to the public nor submitted to the Supreme court of Pakistan for further necessary action and people are suffering since last many years. During the Summer Seasons people could not get a single drop of water around certain areas and has to purchase potable water through Tanker Mafia, paying huge amount to them, though regular bills are also being paid to KWSB by the Genuine Consumers. The water being used by the people is mixed-up with the sewerage, as tested in the Labs; therefore people are suffering from many Diseases. Water Mafia has also established R.O. Plants and selling the sub-standard Bottled water to the people without any rules and regulations by the concerned Authorities. There seems no solution to Drinking water-crisis and people are left on the mercy of Allah.

3.      GARBAGE

There are Tons of Garbage scattered in every corner of Karachi .During last rainy season of 2019, a drive was initiated to clean the city but all in vain .Neither Provincial nor Federal Government has done any concrete step to clean the city, except putting Garbage on each other so now the rainy season of 2020 has started, the Garbage has so accumulated that it can be multiplied in Tons and there seems no solution to clean the city.

4.      ROADS AND TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Mass Transit Program was not availed by the Governments despite having Loan offered by Japan; 20-25 years ago therefore there is no Public Transport System in the city. Had there be a Metro or Underground Railway in the city there would have been no Traffic- Jams or over-crowding on the roads, but now the situation of Traffic- jams is miserable and the condition of roads is worst in the city and people are living a terrible life in the city. There are over-head Bridges and Underground passages but these are un-sufficient and cannot cope with the heavy traffic of the city. Circular Railway cannot be built due to encroachments on the Railway Tracks and the system is too old to operate in the city on Surface. The Orange-line System being built by the previous Government is also held-up and is Waste of time and money and even if it is completed after such delays, it can’t be so effective.

The port city has slipped in the rankings and it was at 137th place on the list of 140 cities in 2018. The rankings are based on its stability, culture and environment, healthcare, education facilities and infrastructure. The Sindh provincial capital has now been on the list of least- livable cities for years. Notwithstanding, the main problem in the city seems to be stability – Karachi’s ranking was 20, which was the lowest on the list. Stability is ranked by prevalence of crime, threats of conflict and threats of terrorism or unrest. Culture encompasses temperature, social or religious restrictions, censorship, sports, food and drink and consumer goods and services available. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, no comprehensive urban planning framework exists like the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 of the UK and similar legislations in other parts of the world devised since the early 1900s to guide, direct, authorize and legitimate local/city governments to make and implement their city plans.

In Pakistan, plan-making was first advised through national five-year plans and varied forms of spatial planning followed thereafter. Large cities like Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar tend to have plans, but most of them remain outdated.

BY: SULTAN ZAFAR