The Neo-Liberal Urban Development Paradigm and Civil Society Responses in Karachi, Pakistan

The development of the URC model of research and advocacy:

The first major initiative of the URC became a model of its research and advocacy work. This initiative was a questioning of the Karachi Mass Transit Project which was developed in 1994 with advice from World Bank consultants by the Karachi Development Authority’s Mass Transit Cell. The Project proposed six corridors of elevated light rail transitways. Corridor One (15.4 kilometres) was to be implemented in Phase – 1 at a cost of US$ 668 million. After studying the proposal the URC raised the following objections.

• The elevated transitways would adversely be an environmental disaster in the inner city and would also adversely affect the built-heritage of the inner city.
• Corridor One generated no commuters itself. Commuters came to Corridor One from other locations.
• An abandoned circular rail corridor already existed. It revival and extension would cost a fraction of the cost of Corridor One and would serve a far larger area than the six corridors put together.

The city planners refused to accept the URC’s objections as valid. The URC then initiated the formation of the Citizen’s Forum on Mass Transit (CFMT) which consisted of professionals, NGOs, concerned citizens, media organisations and the OPP community networks. The CFMT held a citizens forum and presented its findings to them along with alternatives to the government plan. The forum was reported extensively in the media and a major debate in and outside the media ensued. This resulted in major changes in the Karachi Mass Transit Project and the development of proposals for the revitalisation and extension of the abandoned circular railway. The most important part of this process was the creation of a large informal network consisting of NGOs, community organisations, media, concerned citizens, professionals, academic institutions and central government departments. This network becomes operative whenever the need arises. (See Appendix – 3 for Institutions Linked to the Network) It has also resulted, after considerable disagreements, in a very cordial and supportive relationship between the URC and the Karachi Mass Transit Cell of the City Government.

The above procedure was adopted successfully by the URC to question a number of government initiatives. These include:

• The revival of the building of the Northern Bypass Project, which had been shelved by the government. The bye-pass is now under construction.
• The URC challenged the US$ 100 million ADB funded Korangi Waste Water Management Project for Karachi and along with the OPP and other NGOs and community organisations pushed for the US$ 20 million alternative prepared by the OPP. As a result, the ADB loan was cancelled in favour of OPP alternative. This process also led to the creation of the Water and Sanitation Network in Karachi which monitors water and sanitation projects proposed by government agencies.
• The privatisation of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (a government organisation) was opposed by civil society organisations along with the URC. This opposition led to the creation of a government appointed review committee on the basis of whose report the privatisation process was cancelled.
• The URC’s monitoring of forced evictions and the holding of forums around them has created an awareness in society regarding their negative aspects. As a result, political parties have come together recently to oppose evictions proposed by the local government and this has led to their cancellation.
• URC’s research and forums on solid waste management (which was carried out in collaboration with scavengers and informal solid waste recyclers) has led to the informal recycling industry being accepted as an important interest group in this sector.

Not all of URC’s initiatives have been successful in which case the URC has had to adopt or support alternative processes. The building of the Lyari Expressway along the Lyari river was opposed by the URC since it was uprooting 25,000 families, over 8,000 businesses and adversely affecting community life and in many cases more than a hundred year old institutions. Between 1992 and 2002 the URC and the Lyari Corridor communities were able to get the project shelved three times in favour of the Northern Bypass alternative. However, in 2002 the government decided to build the Expressway. The communities, other civil society organisations and the URC launched a campaign of protests and demonstrations which were supported by the media. They then appealed to the United Nations against the forced evictions since Pakistan is a signatory to the Istanbul Declaration. The UN arranged for a Facts Finding Mission to visit Karachi and meet with government and community representatives. This led to a more generous relocation and rehabilitation package for the affected communities. In addition to demonstrations, the communities and their supporters also held “All Parties Conferences” where representatives of all the political parties were called to the affected areas and asked to take a position. This technique has now become a part of the URC methodology.

The URC is currently focusing on two important issues. These are described below:

• The government agencies have decided to privatise 14 kilometres of beach in Karachi which is currently used for recreational purposes by the citizens (especially the poor) of the city. The privatised zone will have high income condominiums, five-star hotels and posh eating places and clubs. This development is being done in collaboration with a Dubai based and a Malaysia based investment and construction companies. The URC is currently mobilising public opinion against this proposal which it considers as usurpation of public space, and hopes to hold an informed forum on it. So far over 400 NGOs, CBOs and schools from all over Karachi and Pakistan along with over 5,000 individuals have signed a petition opposing this US$ 1,500 million project.
• Hawkers exist all over Karachi. More than 3,500 of them work in the city centre. The government keeps evicting them and they keep coming back. The URC in collaboration with hawkers and residents of the area has worked out a plan for the rehabilitation of the city centre hawkers on pedestrianised streets and near bus stops and transport terminals. The plans are being discussed with the city government and similar plans for other areas are being researched into.

The URC is also supporting a province-wide movement against the granting of a 99-year lease of two islands off the coast of Karachi to a Dubai based company for US$ 43 billion. The company will develop apartments and recreational facilities for the elite. Fishing communities who have lived on and used the resources of these islands for centuries in a sustainable manner are in the process of being evicted.

The URC process has created an awareness in the public, media and government regarding the problems official planning creates for communities and weaker interest groups. It has also created an understanding of the negative aspects of IFI funded projects and the possible alternatives to them which rely entirely on local resources. The process has also created a link between society, media and the government on urban planning issues. The media and the government (even if it does not agree with the URC analyses) consults with the URC. This has generated discussion and debate on issues which were never discussed before in the media, in the government planning institutions and in institutions where government bureaucrats are trained.

The URC is essentially trying to create a space of interaction between politicians, planners (government agencies, academic institutions) and people (communities and small formal and informal interest groups). This space has been created but it needs to be nurtured and subsequently institutionalised. The diagram in Appendix – 4 illustrates this concept.

The URC has been constantly accused by local government, consultants and contractors (both national and international) as being anti-development. However, the URC favours development but promotes a four-point agenda for it which is given below.

• Planning should respect the ecology and the natural environment of the region in which Karachi is located.
• Land use should be determined on the basis of social and environmental considerations and not on the basis of land value or potential land value alone.
• Planning should give priority to the needs of the majority population which in the case of Karachi belongs to the lower income and lower middle income classes, the majority of whom are pedestrians, commuters, informal settlement dwellers and workers in the informal sector.
• Planning should respect the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Karachi and of the communities living in it.