Planning Commission: New growth strategy offers captivating vision for Pakistan

However, traditionalists are sceptical of the plan.

However farfetched the new growth strategy, produced by the Planning Commission, may seem to traditionalists there is no denying the captivating vision it projects for our cities.

Nevertheless, while the whole world is moving towards urbanisation, here in Pakistan, we are rapidly ruralising the few urban centres we have. Why? Because we are too scared to move away from the status quo. We are too scared to think outside the box.

This fear that the realities of our country cannot adapt to 21st century ideas has suppressed the potential of our cities. This fear has seized all urban planning and development in Pakistan.

One of the contending issues respondents have is that the Planning Commission document is anti-environment. The common perception that urbanisation, now found in every rapidly developing country, leads to environmental disruption is a view shaped without comprehension.

The current state of our cities is abysmal. Disorganised implementation of too many futile policies has led to rampant traffic congestion, air and noise pollution and depletion of valuable agricultural land as cities expand horizontally.

These issues will only become more chronic with time, particularly as urban population grows at exponential rates. In 2009 urban population stood at 57.32 million. The United Nations estimates that by 2020 this figure will rise to 90-100 million, amounting to over 50% of the total population.

Let us be proactive

What is required is preparation for the worst and planning for the best outcomes. The answer to these pressing problems is not more regulations but de-regulation. Deregulation of building laws to allow for vertical city expansion and deregulation of zoning laws to include mixed use zones. The overall ambition of the new strategy is to create density in our cities and rightly so.

Research has proven that high-rise buildings are not only more energy efficient and economically feasible but also effective in utilising land. The allowance for high-rise buildings will encourage apartment construction, which will bridge the gap in the housing shortfalls and lead to a shift from construction of single-storey buildings and houses.

Greater density in cities means shorter distances. The idea is to encourage city dwellers to rely on walking rather than cars. This will dramatically reduce the rate of carbon emissions and contain traffic congestion, pollution and noise in cities.

With rising urban population, growing distances as cities expand, poor urban transportation and an expanding middle class, the amount of cars and motorcycles on the roads will exceed rapidly in the coming years.

Even today the predominant means of transport is private vehicles, which constitutes about 82% of the total transport. Reports show that motor vehicle exhausts account for 90% of the pollutants in Pakistan’s air.

A recommendation of the new strategy is to create an integrated transport network within cities in partnership with the private sector. Before dismissing this initiative one needs to take a closer look at our neighbour, India.

Proactive thinking led to the introduction of a metro-subway system in Delhi, which was facing mounting problems of traffic and pollution. In 2007, it became one of only five metro systems in the world to make a profit without government subsidies.

The days are gone when we use the excuse of ‘third world’ status to brush off advancements such as metro systems because they seem unachievable. The new framework rejects this attitude and instead encourages us to think innovatively.

If the recommendations put forward are adequately implemented there is no reason why Pakistan can’t achieve similar advancements and sustainable development in the future.

The writer works as a consultant for the Planning Commission

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2011.