How can the richest city of Pakistan look like the poorest the moment it rains? How can a city that runs the country’s economy have roads that collapse after a drizzle? How many millions have been stolen from the budgets meant to fix Shahrah-e-Faisal, budgets that vanish as completely as the road itself under water?
Shahrah-e-Faisal, the road that is supposed to represent the very face of Karachi, becomes a filthy canal where engines stall, buses drown halfway, ambulances are trapped in stagnant waters and commuters sit helpless for hours as their city disintegrates around them.
We must stop calling this a “flood” and start calling it what it is: a catastrophic engineering failure and a brutal betrayal of public trust, where the victims are millions of stranded citizens. Yes! They aren’t flooding the roads; they are flooding bank accounts, washing away daily wages, sinking small businesses and eroding the very financial stability of the families that depend on this city. Where have the billions upon billions of rupees that Karachi generates for this country actually disappeared to?
Karachi needs a complete redesign of its drainage system with underground stormwater drains that can carry rainwater away from the roads and into proper reservoirs. Roads like Shahrah-e-Faisal and University Road need to be rebuilt, not patched, with proper materials that can withstand both monsoon and heavy traffic. Every major intersection must have floodwater pumping stations, and every underpass must have its own drainage system instead of being allowed to turn into a dangerous flooding chokepoint.
The garbage management system has to be restructured so that trash does not jam every drain in the city. Modern waste treatment plants can turn garbage into energy and fertilizer instead of leaving it to rot on the streets. Technology can and must be used — Karachi needs flood forecasting systems, real-time traffic management and emergency response units trained specifically for monsoon disasters. Above all, Karachi needs accountability — leaders who fail to deliver must be removed, not recycled into the next government.
Yumna Zahid Ali
Karachi
