We have big and sprawling cities faced with chronic municipal problems, weak law and order, and lax building and housing regulations. They have grown haphazardly and without planning or regulation. The natural water paths have been encroached upon, obstructing the flow of rainwater. The Municipal Committees regulate new construction within their respective limits by passing maps and ensuring that the construction would not encroach upon any street or choke any drain. These civic bodies keep roads and streets and drainages in good repair. The governmental regulations for controlling the growth of the cities through public and private housing schemes were strict. Gradually, we have lost all this in the epidemic onslaught of corruption, favouritism and bureaucratic inertia.

All big cities of Pakistan have identical problems – overflowing of sewerage and drainage, broken roads and streets, non-functional street lights, inundation, haphazard expansion, and the growth of unplanned, unauthorised, unlawful housing schemes, occupation of amenity plots, encroachment over waterways, street crime etc. In some cities, these problems are more acute because of their overgrown population. Some cities may have more resources for revenue generation. A few cities generate huge revenues. However, the developmental activities of Municipal Corporations and other Municipal Committees of such cities fail to correspond with their generated wealth. These cities need effective local governments.

The political leaders loathe to transfer powers to the grassroots levels. The beginning of the so-called constituency-based development funds from the party-less National Assembly of 1985 to this day has grossly undermined the functions of the........

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