The environment ministry of Pakistan has ordered the development of master plans for 80 of the country’s largest cities so that they can pursue sustainability goals. This is great news but given Pakistan’s governance track record, it’s easier said than done.
Only China, India, the US and Indonesia have bigger populations than Pakistan, which is one of the most urbanized countries of Asia. With an urban population increasing at more than three percent a year, Pakistanis are flocking to cities faster than any country in the region. It is projected that by 2030, more than half of Pakistan’s 250 million citizens will be living in cities.
And yet, urban planning is only now starting to find a way in the national discourse on development and planning. It’s about time too. Pakistani cities are exhausted by urban decay, runaway pollution and rampant under-governance. They direly need a new system of management and governance that emphasizes service delivery, a focus on green initiatives and inclusive and happy spaces for social engagement and business enterprises, and equitable development. Developing a master plan for a city is just the first step toward this process. Not having them in the first place is criminal.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, based on the last national census it conducted in 2017, there are two cities with the status of ‘mega city’ with a population of 10 million or more, and over 100 cities with a population of 100,000 people or more. These include 10 that have a population of one million or more – Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Multan, Hyderabad, Islamabad and Quetta. Among the 100 largest cities, 58 are in the most populous province Punjab, 22 in Sindh, 11 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, six in Balochistan, two in Azad Kashmir, plus the federal capital Islamabad.
Only over the last few years an attempt is being made by the government to provide basic health coverage through subsidized schemes, but these are unviable without a dramatic expansion of and improvement in state-managed health services.
Adnan Rehmat
Over the past few decades, what was once a trickle of people leaving rural areas for the big cities, has turned into a torrent of migration that has upended not only agriculture being Pakistan’s economic mainstay but also resulted in an urban development challenge that has seen too little being spent on cities to make them productivity hubs that could result in economic growth.
Ironically, the rapid urbanization is fueled by the search for economic prospects and jobs, but these are either hard to come by or are low-paid affairs. Nearly 40 percent of urban populations are, unsurprisingly, residing in slums that further exacerbate productivity and management challenges. According to the World Bank, two countries with larger populations than Pakistan but lower urbanization – India and Indonesia – contribute 58 percent and 60 percent of their GDP from cities respectively. Pakistani cities contribute 55 percent despite higher urbanization.
And yet jobs are not even among the primary problems facing Pakistani cities. In 2017, the State Bank of Pakistan identified the six largest challenges of the country’s urban hubs as being housing, water and sanitation, transportation, health, education and land management. Any city master plan should start with these and offer ways to tackle them based on best practices of equitable, resourced and sustainable development.
The jobs can come if the largest six problems identified start being addressed. The housing shortage was 4.4 million in 2015 and estimated at nearly 80 percent of all shortages in five of its largest cities by 2035. Pakistan is already among the world’s top 10 most water-stressed countries, while poor sanitation costs nearly four percent of its GDP on lost productivity. Mass transportation in some of the larger cities is only a very recent phenomenon and still leaves up to a third of all public trips on foot due to unavailability or affordability. Islamabad doesn’t even have a local bus service! Health is expensive and a bevy of ailments grossly undercut productivity. Only over the last few years an attempt is being made by the government to provide basic health coverage through subsidized schemes, but these are unviable without a dramatic expansion of and improvement in state-managed health services. Over 10 percent of all school-age children in Pakistan’s top five cities remain out of schools due to shortage and affordability. Outdated regulation and rampant corruption have crippled land management, encouraged unplanned sprawl and messing up public spaces.
Developing master plans for sustainable development and productivity of cities is a good first step in tackling these monstrous challenges. But it must include wide consultation with citizens and civil society as well as green activists and businesses so that people’s priorities are institutionalized in master plans and their ownership and benefit is incorporated in the endeavor.
- Adnan Rehmat is a Pakistan-based journalist, researcher and analyst with interests in politics, media, development and science.
Twitter: @adnanrehmat1
