Livelihood Substitution DFID Karachi Research: Lyari Expressway

7. Stakeholders In The Lyari Project

Stakeholders in the Lyari Project are:

1. The Federal Government: It is funding the project.
2. The National Highway Authority (NHA): This is a federal government institution that is in-charge of planning and implementation of highway projects. It is essentially an organisation consisting of engineers. The design work for projects is let out to consultants but the Authority supervises the projects itself. It is a self-financing organisation. Under the project proposal it will collect the toll tax on the Expressway through which it will fund itself and return to the federal government the funds invested in the project.
3. The City Government: This is represented by the Mayor of Karachi. Its only role in the entire project programme is to get the land vacated for the implementation of the project and carry out the compensation and resettlement of the affectees. It has no say in the design of the project although the affectess invariably turn to it for resolution of their grievances.
4. The Action Committee for Civic Problems (ACCP): This is an NGO which networks with other NGOs and CBOs in Karachi. The ACCP has helped to bring the Lyari CBOs together on one platform and much of the negotiations regarding the project and demonstration against it has been organised by the ACCP with the help of the Urban Resource Centre, Karachi.
5. Lyari Expressway Communities: Most areas in Lyari have community organisations who have lobbied over the years for land rights, water and electricity connections, social services (many provided on a self-help basis) and better transport and telecommunications facilities. Some of the organisations (especially in the old pre-independence settlements) are effective welfare institutions providing funds for education, funerals, religious activities and health services.
6. Karachi NGOs, Concerned Citizens and Professionals who wish to improve environmental conditions in Karachi and create a more equitable and just society.
7. Karachi Formal Sector Developers: They are organised as an association. They are interested in acquiring land wherever possible in the centre of the city so as to develop real estate. The building of the expressway is bound to bring about changes in land-use along the Lyari Corridor which would be in their interest. There is a strong politician-bureaucrat-developer nexus in the city which has deprived it of a lot of land meant for amenities under the Karachi Master Plan.
8. The Garbage Collecting, Sorting and Recycling Industry: Much of this is located in settlements adjacent to the Lyari Corridor. Within the Lyari bed much of the sorting is done. The removal of the encroachers (collectors and sorters) from the Lyari bed will effect the industry adversely.
9. The Karachi Master Plan Department of the City Government: The Master Plan Department should have been consulted on the Lyari Expressway Project. However, it was bypassed. It will now have to deal with the repercussions of the project related to land-use and the development of building by-laws and zoning regulations for the changed physical environment along the Lyari Corridor and its repercussions (physical and environmental) on other parts of the city.
10. President Pervaiz Musharraf and head of the NHA who have decided on pushing the Lyari Expressway Project in its present form, in spite of major objections from various other stakeholders, for reasons that are not clearly understood.
11. Consultants who are involved in the design of the project, contractors who are building it and professionals who see a lot of work being created for them through the land-use changes that are to follow the building of the Expressway.

8. Government-Poor Communities Consultations

No formal consultations were carried out between the Lyari River Corridor communities and government agencies regarding the project or resettlement and compensation plans until long after demolition began. However, the URC and the ACCP held series of meetings with the communities and provided them information on the development of the project. The URC also held a forum on this issue where affected communities expressed their concerns and raised questions related to the re-settlement of the communities and the absence of transparency regarding the project. As a result of the forum and the URC/ACCP arranged meetings, communities filed cases in February 2002 in the Sindh High Court against the bulldozing operations. The communities have contributed over Rs 3 million (US$50,000) as fee for legal assistance. Also in February, a leading Urdu newspaper (Daily Jang) held a forum at their auditorium on the project. The city mayor, representatives of the NHA and project director for rehabilitation of Lyari Expressway affectees attended the forum. Lyari community representatives also attended and expressed their concerns. The city mayor and NHA were unable to satisfy the communities and were unable to answer a number of technical questions that professionals attending the forum raised.

In March 2002, a People’s Assembly was held at the Karachi Press Club. It was jointly organised by Action Committee for Victims of Lyari Expressway, ACCP, URC and Pakistan Institute of Labour Education Research (PILER). About 3,000 men, women and children attended the rally. The Mayor of Karachi was also present but defended the Expressway design. Also in March, the ACCP called an All (political) Party Conference (APC) in which major Karachi politicians participated and expressed their support to the affectees and urged the government not to build the project. Four other All Party Conferences were held in March 2002.

As a result of these demonstrations and meetings, the city government on 20 March 2002 invited the ACCP for talks. At the talks it was decided that: i) the city government will provide all details including plans, feasibility studies, estimates and environmental impact studies to the community leaders; ii) a list of affected families will be published; and iii) a committee of experts will be formed to review the project. In April and May 2002, meetings were again held between representatives of the affectees and the city government. It was clear from these meetings that the city government was in no position to make any concessions to the affectees or make changes in the design of the Expressway so as to effect less people as it was completely subservient to the wishes of the Federal Government.

The present situation is that evictions have been stopped for the time being and the government has promised changes in the project so as to affect less people. Also, work for the provision of infrastructure at the plot township to which the affectees are to be relocated has been accelerated.

9. New Opportunities For Affectees After The Construction Of The Expressway

Different categories of affectees will be affected differently. Encroachers in the river bed will have a plot that they can call their own even if it is far away from the city centre and for the time being is unserviced. Most of them have agreed to shift. However, most of them work in the garbage sorting and recycling industry and as such they will have no work for the time being in their new neighbourhood. Commuting to their old work places will increase their transport costs and as such will make them poorer. Their children will be without schooling (until schools are developed in the resettlement scheme) and they will be far away from health facilities. Residents of old pre-independence settlements and leased areas will be devastated. Years of investment in their homes and neighbourhoods, including legal electricity, water, telephone and gas connections will be destroyed along with schools, health clinics and places of worship that they have contributed to build. The worst effected will be commercial enterprises who are not being compensated. Most of them are of an informal nature and will find it very difficult to relocate or even to survive. They will probably have to sell their assets to survive for the time being and instead of entrepreneurs they will become day-wage labour for the most part.

The overall problem of development in general and of conditions at the resettlement scheme for the Expressway affectees in particular are given in two articles “Victims of Development” and Expressway Owes” in Appendix – 7.