Metamorphosis of Karachi over the Last Three Years
By Masood H Kizilbash
Islamabad, Pakistan

 

The cities do change their face. However, the change is an elongated process. It does not come by in a short term of three years to become unrecognizable.

I had not visited Karachi since early 2019 and was confident that I would find places without any difficulty on account of my long stay in the city between 1953 and 1986 and regular visits to the city thereafter.

Starting in a Metro cab from the Airport, I could not site Drigh Road Railway Station as the vehicle dived into an underground bypass to emerge on Shahra-e-Faisal. I cast my eyes on my left to view the PAF Airport but could see only commercial buildings and petrol pumps. Keen on viewing the PAF mess on my right where the first birthday of my son was celebrated, the new buildings restricted my sight.

Confident of my familiarity with Shahrah-e-Quaideen and Tariq Road, I visited the area to locate the Sir Syed Road Branch of Habib Bank Limited. I found high-rise buildings on both the roads rather than residences. I missed out the Branch to travel to Sir Syed Road, Khalid Bin Waleed Road and Khushal Khan Khattak Road where I lived. All residences had been dismantled and replaced with high-rise buildings occupied by automobile-related car dealers and auto parts. The cab driver was flustered and again took a turn towards Tariq Road. Thank God, he landed me in the Branch. The story was repeated when I tried to visit the house of my niece in Phase 6 of DHA and had to earn ridicule from my nephew for loss of memory.

The next day I had to visit the Regional Directorate of National Savings. I was informed that it was located near Baloch Colony. The same cab driver passed by huge high-rise buildings on my right and left which housed business houses, proclaiming an upsurge in business and investment activity.

Another drastic change that I noticed in the spectacle of Karachi was that the whole city is dotted with bank branches. These branches are not located at a distance of kilometers but at a distance of furlongs and that too in clusters of several different banks. The mystery was resolved when I visited a branch and heard the conversation between the Operation Manager and a relatively young in his 30s investor/client. The conversation revealed that the young man wanted his overdraft ceiling raised as his turnover had increased. During the course of the conversation, the Operation Manager doled out his expert advice on investment policy, regulations of the State Bank of Pakistan and taxation laws. I could now understand the trend of mushroom growth of the bank branches.

The government claimed a growth rate of 3.94% in the fiscal year 2019/2020. They attributed it to their wise and well-devised Green Economy model put into effect following Covid-19 and Climate Change. The Opposition rejected the claim. They little realized that the growth was an outcome of their own governance model in Sindh. The cardinal principle of the model was conversion of residential areas into commercial areas on payment of kickbacks to the authorities comprising bureaucrats and political bosses. This was achieved by outright violation of the Master Plan or by making changes in it by fraudulent means. The other recourse was to squelch the rules and by-laws or to effect changes in them.

The public land for parks, roads and railway tracks was allowed to be illegally occupied by the encroachers. What is most appalling is that these encroachers were doled out allotment letters by the authorities. The Supreme Court orders for demolition of these illegal buildings/houses/flats are tarried with and not implemented. The recent hearing of these cases bears testimony to the obduracy of the culprits. In a hearing of a case on 16 th June, 2021 of illegal construction of NaslaTower on Shahra-e-Quideen, the Supreme Court ordered its demolition and directed the government authorities to remove all encroachments from government land within three months. While admonishing the Senior Member of the Board of Revenue, the Chief Justice minced no words in telling him that if all orders of the court remained unimplemented – “If not, you will be the first to lose your position.”

The government of Pakistan through its rescue and incentive package of Rs 1.13 trillion on 24 th March, 2000 adjusted the economy to the ground realities of post-corona virus and global economic environment rather than hope for a return to pre-corona virus environment as most countries did in their initial response. The package had two distinct objectives. The first was to provide immediate relief to daily wage earners and self-employed through cash disbursements. The second aimed at three sectors which fell in the category of Stiglitz’s Green Economy namely, agriculture, small and medium size industries and health.

The initial package was further broadened in April and May to include cuts in duties and taxes on food items, imposition of ban on export on some food items including onions and personal protection equipment meant for hospitals, payment of export rebate and duty drawback and refund of GST to exporters/export industries, removal of restrictions on movement of goods through trucks across the country, deferment in payment of utility bills etc. This was reinforced by certain monetary measures on 22 nd April. These included relaxation in collateral requirement, further reduction in end-user rate, opening of special accounts for employees to receive wages, borrowing from banks other than maintaining pay rolls, a reduction in bank exposure limits. The application forms were also simplified for small and medium size enterprises.

There is no doubt that the model adopted by Sindh Government has accelerated the growth of industries including construction industry, business and investment in Karachi. The cardinal principle of the model is conversion of residential areas into commercial areas on payment of kickbacks and commissions to the authorities to violate the Master Plan and to make changes in it at will to squelch the rules and by-laws and if necessary, affect changes in them. Surely, the model will accelerate growth of Karachi and change its spectacle to become unrecognizable for any visitor to Karachi. However, it will be at a very high cost resulting in concentration of wealth in a few hands and collapse of the society itself.