Governing Karachi

The political climate in the country is heating up as we move closer to the general elections. The key actors have started outlining the issues that could give them maximum political mileage. Taking cue from those demanding a South Punjab province, the MQM has echoed a similar demand asking for southern Sindh to be made a separate province based on the grievances of this part of Sindh. The belligerent reaction from the ruling PPP is understandable given that acceding to such a demand would have dramatic implications for the party. The MQM has been trying to emphasise that its demand is based on administrative grounds. It will be interesting to analyse whether the demand for a separate province on administrative grounds makes sense or not.

Such demands for separate provinces, historically speaking, are aired by those belonging to outlying regions, which are far away from the core or the locus of power for resources and networks. A sense of deprivation is reinforced by state policies that widen the social and economic gap. At times, identity groups try to push their agenda by asserting that the preservation of their culture and language can only be done through a separate province.

The situation in the case of southern Sindh, however, is contrary to any such assertion. Economic and social indicators in this densely-populated area are quite robust and well ahead of the rest of the province. The south is already the seat of the provincial capital and enjoys proximity to all key government and state institutions. The culture and the language spoken here are under no threat. In fact, the cultural-markers of this area have diffused well into the landmass of Sindh, while at the same time there has been little effort from the other end to imbibe the Sindhi language. The demand for a separate province on administrative grounds also seems out of place. It is divisions and districts that are created on administrative grounds, while as a student of public policy, I believe that creation of provinces is essentially politically driven.

Let us now look at the chances of success of such a move. Creating a new province will require an amendment to the Constitution by a two-thirds vote. This will further need to be backed by a resolution by the provincial legislature concerned, also by a two-thirds majority. There is little chance that political forces backing such a move can muster such numbers in the foreseeable future. What is the way out, then?

The existing loathsome state of affairs in southern Sindh, and specifically in Karachi, where the delivery of basic services has come to naught cannot be tolerated any longer. Karachi needs an altogether different dispensation as conventional ploys cannot work anymore. This may require ingenuity without straying into constitutional improbabilities. There is a need now to come up with what I would call the ‘Greater Cities Empowerment Order’ through a piece of legislation to address several immediate concerns. Any city with a population exceeding 10 million should qualify for this statutory order, which means that it would be as relevant to Lahore as it would be to Karachi. Through this order, these cities and their elected elders will be vested with all those powers and responsibilities that impact the life of the common man.

It would be noteworthy to see what is available in Karachi’s toolbox at this particular moment. The city has a metropolitan corporation where the existing law entrusts it with a vast array of powers and responsibilities. These powers range from land-use planning, site development, road engineering, building control, to water supply, sanitation, refuse and waste collection, and so on. The law also empowers the metropolitan corporation to manage professional medical colleges and tertiary hospitals. However, this law also has a caveat. Section 72 of the Local Government Act stipulates that no corporation will undertake such functions as are assigned and performed by any agency under the law. This basically makes room for a backdoor ingress for the provincial government to preside over several municipal functions such as building control, water and sewerage control, and urban area development while leaving the mayor and his team high and dry.

What we now see are burgeoning parastatals like the Sindh Building Control Authority, and the water and sanitation board calling the shots. This takeover by the province is inconsistent with the preamble of the Local Government Act 2013. The preamble envisaged devolved decision-making by elected representatives through a participative mechanism for effective delivery of services. The empowerment order for mega cities that I’m proposing should override such caveats as cited above. The order should bring all such agencies under an elected mayor with there being close and constructive provincial oversight. The Karachi chapters of all such bodies should be delinked from the provincial set-up.

Coming to another critical area, the steady and assured flow of financial resources is a prerequisite for effective and meaningful governance of any mega city. The metropolitan corporation, during the next financial year, with a budget of Rs27 billion could set apart Rs7 billion for development works. Such an amount provides some space for development work, and will be additional to the formula-based fiscal transfers from the provincial divisible pool. It is time now to lay the basis of an affirmative action mechanism to meet Karachi’s ever-growing development needs. In this regard, of all the provincial taxes, the sales tax in the services sector is the most robust assignment that sees exceptional growth. It is pitched at Rs115 billion for the next financial year. Collected from port and terminal operations, banking, insurance, the stock exchange and some other key retail sectors, this residence-based tax is largely mopped up from Karachi.

It is time now to set apart at least 15 to 20 per cent of the sales tax as allocable to the city over and above its share from the divisible pool. This should be a tied transfer grant for creating capital assets through a rolling plan. This should take place in consultation with the provincial government. The whole arrangement may require legislative cover. This may only look like a modest start but it would certainly provide a positive direction to Karachi’s development paradigm, and can also turn out to be a test for the city’s leadership. Karachi’s elders need to realise that they are on the same ladder which also threw up distinguished figures like Joko Widodo in Jakarta and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul. They need to grab every opportunity at their disposal besides creating new ones for themselves in order to bring Karachi on the same plane as other major global metropolitan centres.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2018.

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