Urban management: Karachi is Never-Never land for those who need it the most
As govt digitally maps the city, questions arise on how its space is being used.
The government does not have the capacity to effectively meet people’s demand for residential and commercial land. The expansion of the informal economy - spread of slums and squatter colonies - are in part an outcome of the rigid land market policy. PHOTO: FILE
The revenue department of the government of Sindh has wrapped up a digital survey of unregistered and encroached upon land in Karachi, using Geographical Information Survey technology. It undertook this exercise on the orders of the Supreme Court that felt encroachments were strongly linked to crime in the city.
This is a commendable initiative. However, a lot more remains to be done. What is important to realise is that unless certain critical fault lines in Karachi’s land management system are effectively and boldly addressed, the problems attendant to encroachments and the non-productive use of land will not only remain but also intensify.
In Karachi, an inefficient land market has reduced access to and increased the cost of land. In addition to this, delays in and the high cost of enforcing contracts limit the efficacy of land use. This is exacerbated by the poor quality of urban infrastructure and civic services among the factors.
A significant external stress factor has been the phenomenal population growth recorded in a number of ‘waves’ to the metropolis. As far back as 1989, Dr D Dowall stated in his Study - Karachi Land and Housing Study that according to estimates of population growth, between 1980 and 1985, Karachi was the fourth fastest growing of the 40 largest metropolitan areas in the world.
The associated urban sprawl has been substantial. Dowell estimated that in 1972, 63% of the population of the metropolitan area lived within 10 kilometres of the city centre. By 1981, it had declined to 52%. By 1987, the core area of Karachi (the area within five kilometres of the central business district) accounted for less than 20% of the total regional population.
A critical issue in land management is the extremely high percentage of government ownership. Nearly 90% of the city’s land is publicly owned. While there is nothing wrong with government agencies owning land as such, the problem arises when public sector institutions do not respond to or respond inappropriately to the needs and development trends of the population they serve. In the case of Karachi, that is what has happened. The government does not have the capacity to effectively meet people’s demand for residential and commercial land. The supply of land and available stock of commercial and residential land in the market has not been enough, as a result of which land prices have been pushed up and out the reach of the average homeowner and small business operator. The expansion of the informal economy - spread of slums and squatter colonies - are in part an outcome of this rigid land market policy.
Rent laws in Sindh favour tenants, which is why landlords or owners are hesitant about renting out their property. It is often difficult to get back your rented property from a tenant or even increase rents, and land disputes normally languish in courts for years.
It has been difficult to use vacant land parcels in the inner core of the city. What has happened here, though, is vertical expansion or controlled ‘densification’ - the city has spread outwards. This was initially managed by the government (KDA schemes) but later through informal actors or the ‘land mafia’.
Dowall documented that over 12,000 acres of land, enough to house 1,200,000 people, lie underused in the heart of the city and nearly 30,000 acres of land in the built-up area have been preempted for defense purposes or are under cantonment board control.
In Sindh, we do not have an urban land disposal law. In order to regulate the disposal of urban land in Sindh, an ordinance, titled the Sindh Disposal of Urban Land Ordinance 1999, was promulgated on May 20, 1999. This ordinance expired after three months and as of today, the provincial matters related to land are managed without an overarching urban land disposal law!
Issues related to land ownership, management and use are complex. Viable and sustainable solutions require a show of political will and engagement of a wide spectrum of stakeholders in developing a shared vision for the development of the city. Everything, from stabilizing urban security to facilitating financial vibrancy, ensuring equity, improving civic services and urban environment depends on the judicious use of land.
The writer is an urban planner and runs a non-profit organisation based in Karachi city focusing on urban sustainability issues. He can be reached at fanwar@sustainableinitiatives.org.pk
Published in The Express Tribune, September 23rd, 2013.