Citizens protest public parks' commercial takeover

KARACHI:

Civil society activists, environmental experts and residents from District East, South and Central on Tuesday raised serious concerns over what they termed the rapid conversion of Karachi's public parks into commercial facilities, warning that the trend is stripping neighbourhoods of essential green spaces and worsening the city's environmental decline.

Speaking at a press conference organised by the Karachi Residents' Committee, participants urged the Sindh government, Mayor Murtaza Wahab and civic authorities to immediately halt all ongoing commercialisation of parks. They said at least 13 public parks-mostly in Clifton and PECHS-have already been handed over to private operators for padel courts, sports arenas and other revenue-generating ventures.

According to the residents, parks already converted or undergoing conversion include ST-15 Park, Umer Sharif Park, Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim, Jheel Park, Hill Park and the KMC Sports Complex, among others.

Environmental researcher Ahmad Shabbar said the conversion of parks violated basic urban planning principles and was accelerating the loss of Karachi's already limited green cover. "These parks are the lungs of the city. Replacing them with commercial projects will worsen pollution, increase carbon emissions and undermine Karachi's climate resilience," he said.

Speakers, including architect Marvi Mazhar, journalist Madeeha Syed and environmentalist Masood Lohar, argued that the disappearance of community parks was particularly harmful for women, children and the elderly, who depended on local green spaces for recreation and social interaction. Residents living near recently commercialised parks complained of late-night noise, security disturbances and the loss of open spaces that once served as neighbourhood gathering points.

"This is a systematic takeover of public land," said community representative Asad Ali Sheikh. "Authorities are leasing out parks under public-private partnerships in the name of development, but the beneficiaries are private operators-while citizens lose their only accessible places for fresh air."

The residents' committee demanded that the Sindh Local Government Department cancel all commercial permissions issued for public parks, and called on the Mayor to prioritise public welfare over private profit.