Reclaiming a river

Governments will always face tension between the desire for development and the need to protect the environment. The dilemma can be a tricky one to balance but in Pakistan, it seems that there is only one-way traffic. The needs of the environment are conveniently ignored as the lure of the almighty rupee takes precedence. The latest victim of our shortsighted development is the Malir River in Karachi. The Sindh government and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) are planning to reclaim about 350 acres of the river bed and then sell it to private developers for the construction of residential housing schemes. The project should be an immediate non-starter for a host of reasons, not least of which is the potential environmental impact of the plan.

As you reduce the size of the Malir River, it will not be able to hold as much water and thus, the city will become slightly prone to flooding. There seems to be no alternative plan to divert rain and floodwater. Rather, the Sindh government and the KMC seem to be living on the hope that such a situation does not crop up. Their lack of planning is shocking, especially given that the country just suffered a third straight year of destructive flooding. Rather than battening down the hatches and looking at worst-case scenarios for the future, the provincial and city leadership is doing nothing of the sort.

We also need a serious debate in the country about the concept of public land. This land should be seen not as the property of the government to dispose of when the highest bidder comes along. It is entrusted to the government so that the access of each citizen is guaranteed. The protector, however, has now become the predator. We saw this happen just a few years ago when the provincial government tried to sell off islands near Karachi to Arabs and we see it daily when our houbara bustards are shot for sport by sheikhs. Not only must the Malir River plan be scrapped, we need to have countrywide legislation to protect public land from the greed of government officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2012.