Rain rain, come never again

Karachi's creaky antiquated drainage system is just not up to the task.

After a long, hot summer, a spot of rain should be a welcome relief. Not so in Karachi, which was lashed with nearly a day’s worth of continuous rain. The resulting downpour seems to have placed a burden that the city’s antiquated drainage system seemingly could not bear. Most of the city’s stormwater drains are chocked with silt and plastic bags, and this leads to flooded streets that, apart from the major inconvenience caused to the city’s residents, also lead to a halt in economic activity. We may as well write-off this monsoon as a disaster but that does not mean it is too late for city authorities to prevent a repeat occurrence next year.

The first thing that needs to be done is to ensure that a proper garbage disposal system is instituted in the city. In the absence of a system, solid waste is chucked into nullahs, which leads to the drains being clogged. After that, all property owners that have encroached on storm water drains need to be dealt with severely and their houses and shops demolished if necessary. Those who encroach on drains are normally politically-connected people who feel they have the right to flout the rules. But the needs of the city’s residents cannot be subordinated to the whims of the rich. In some cases, katchi abadis and various shopping plazas have also encroached on drains. These too will have to be dealt with. In many ways, the city government has made this an almost impossible problem to solve. Many roads and underpasses have been built with little regard for how they might affect the drainage system. Such was the case with the construction of the Mai Kolachi Expressway and many other road-building projects.

For the last couple of years, the city’s DHA has crowed about the drainage system they provided to its residents. Even leaving aside the fact that taking care of Defence’s needs does not equate to protecting the entire city from the ravages of rain, the drainage system in Defence has also not proved up to par. Certainly, the rains this year have been exceptionally strong, but that may soon become the norm given the effect of climate change. City planners need to go not just by past experience but by future expectations when constructing a drainage system. Our creaky antiquated system is just not up to the task.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th,  2011.