Taiser Town still lingers far from its grand plans

Taiser Town, a neighbourhood established by Malir Development Authority (MDA), was once touted to be Karachi’s newest enclave. On paper, this project had appeared like the greatest stride towards introducing low-cost housing schemes to the sprawling city.

However today, decades after its inception, this city-within-the-city still remains deprived of the most basic facilities, making everyday life of its dwindling citizenry a constant uphill battle.

The Taiser Town project was first initiated in March of 2002, by then City District Government under its Tameer-e-Karachi programme and was slated for completion within seven years; from December 2005 to December 2012.

Read: "The unsettlement project: 16 years without reprieve in Taiser Town"

Currently being executed by Malir Development Authority, the project sprawls over an overwhelming 20,570 acres of land encompassing four revenue dehs, Mokhi, Nangan, Bijar Ji Buthi and Taiser. It was hoped that upon completion, this scheme would assuage Karachi’s burgeoning housing crisis by providing access to low-cost housing to over 2.5 million people from low and middle-income groups, in addition to creating at least 30,000 jobs in multiple sectors including health, education, utility and communications.

Official data reveals that the project has more than 78,391 residential plots, out of which some 50 per cent are sized between 80 and 120 square yards.

The scheme’s plans suggest that they were intended to equipped with access to all amenities and facilities that any small city or a large town should possess. These include wide roads and alleys dividing various planned residential, commercial and amenities blocks and sectors, a huge battery of reservoirs for water supply, waste treatment plants and dedicated spaces for power supply grid stations, parks and play grounds.

The project also aimed at economic growth through its shopping malls, banks, companies and other commercial establishments, that it had touted to bring to the urban hinterland of Taiser Town. For this, some 9, 125 plots for cottage industries and standard educational institutions were reserved in the project. There were also plans for an internal sewerage treatment facility, that would span over an area of 151.2 acres, in addition to some 23 acres being reserved for a compost plant.

Despite the grand plans however, data available on MDA’s official website suggests that so far, only some 70 to 80 per cent of Taiser Town’s sewerage and storm water drainage systems have been made functional.

On to of that, the project still lacks access to water, electricity and gas due to non-availability of required funds, while access to potable water remains subject to installation of a bulk water supply system.

“There are other issues also besides shortage of funds”, said MDA Land Director Arif, explaining the project’s plight. According to him, administrative problems and hurdles have been a major issue behind lack of infrastructure and non-development of the project. He, however, declined to clearly point out the administrative problems.

On the other hand, the Auditor General of Pakistan’s Performance Audit Report on Taiser Town has highlighted ‘defective planning’ as a key reason behind incomplete infrastructure of the project. The audit report was presented before the Sindh Assembly during its last session. The report has also identified MDA’s failure in removing encroachments on the project land.

“It was recommended to review the whole scheme and complete at least one sector as model by providing all required facilities and utilities to attract allotees to pay their outstanding dues”, the Performance Audit Report stated. The report has also recommended fixing of responsibility for exercising powers beyond financial limit and not removing encroachments; in addition to recommending a probe into use of substandard material in the construction of the project’s sewerage system.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2022.