Anyone who’s lived in Karachi for a reasonably long period will not think that it isn’t the best-planned of cities, unlike Islamabad or even Lahore. They will also know that it’s a massive city, and even some areas of it are probably larger than most other cities in Pakistan. They will also know that much of the planning and construction tends to be haphazard. Of course, as a city, it is very diverse, eclectic, and cosmopolitan and has its own charm.

That said, the way the city is government and how its land is owned and used creates lots of problems – mostly for its 20 million-plus residents. For instance, instead of say one municipal agency that owns public land and regulates the use of privately-owned land, like say the Capital Development Authority in Islamabad, Karachi has over a dozen such agencies. The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), whose head is Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, is the largest of these but not the only one.

In fact, some of the city’s most affluent neighbourhoods are outside its jurisdiction since they lie within the confines of various cantonment boards and the Defence Housing Authority. Other federal agencies like the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Defence, and Ministry of Ports and Shipping also own large chunks of the city’s land, and much of this is in prime locations – and by prime one means that it’s ideal for commercial use, and........

© The Friday Times