A HOMELESS flower vendor, asleep on a footpath in Karachi’s DHA area, was tragically killed when he and his young son were run over by a recklessly driven vehicle. This was not simply a ‘road accident’; the incident exposed an ever-present threat to the lives of thousands of homeless people who sleep on footpaths, bus stop benches, near shop fronts and in other public spaces. It is no surprise that Karachi, with its homelessness and rising crime graph, fared poorly on the recent EIU Global Livability Index.

Politicians want us to judge administrative performance by the allocation of funding. For instance, Sindh has announced an allocation of Rs108.1 billion for 822 development projects in Karachi, and the federal government about Rs10bn. Annual budgets for the main municipality and water utility stand at Rs60.45bn and Rs54.38bn respectively. So, with such allocations, why is Karachi ranked as one of the least livable cities? There are five main reasons.

First, the numerous institutions tasked to manage Karachi grossly lack the requisite capacity to do so. Development authorities, municipal corporations, lower tiers of so-called elected local governments, autonomous........

© Dawn