The story of the CDGK's decision in 2004 that ruined PECHS

The stately old homes with their high ceilings, rounded balconies and verandahs are being torn down by builders.

KARACHI:

Turn right at Noorani Kebab House and drive down the street. To your left and right you will find car showrooms with their wares spilling out onto the road. People are slowly moving out of this neighbourhood. The stately old homes with their high ceilings, rounded balconies and verandahs and cream facades are being torn down by builders with the aesthetic sense of a bulldozer.

What you see is the effect of a decision the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) took in 2004. It made a major policy intervention by commercialising 17 of the major traffic corridors. It was made official in the CDGK Change of Land Use and Master Planning Bye-Laws 2003, signed into effect on February 12, 2004. This decision unleashed a disease that has spread throughout the city to eat away at our quality of life.



It added a chapter to the story of Karachi's damage caused by unregulated commercialisation of land parcels. Commercialisation converts the existing category of land use from residential or amenity (parks) or recreation to commercial.

What was even more catastrophic was the type or form of commercialisation that was approved that year. It is called 'ribbon commercialisation' in which strips of land along major traffic corridors are opened for business instead of a much better option of 'block commercialisation'. In block commercialisation you first check civic utilities, the impact on traffic volumes, environmental and social repercussions.

A committee of independent experts put together by the Karachi Development Authority had said they were opposed to the ribbon commercial development. They argued that in addition to having an undesired impact on the main corridors, these developments would ultimately penetrate inward and have a bad effect on the neighbourhoods.

When KDA conducted a public opinion survey in PECHS at the time, 80% of residents polled opposed commercialisation.

Exactly what was feared has happened. Take the once purely residential neighbourhoods next to Khalid bin Waleed Road, Sir Syed Road. Car showrooms have not only blocked half the traffic arteries on both sides but have also barricaded the entrances to side roads to increase their parking space. Further inwards, you will see all kinds of unplanned and undesirable commercialisation in the shape of offices, tuition centres, beauty parlours.

NGO Shehri recently surveyed what people thought of the commercialisation along five of the 17 corridors. Some major concerns were a degradation of the aesthetics or beauty of the place, loss of green spaces and vegetation (read trees), encroachment of public and private spaces, loss of privacy and increase in crime. Citizens were asked to rate their most pressing worries on a scale of one to 10. Interestingly, Shehri found that three consequences, related directly to an increase in traffic, scored the highest. They were degradation of air quality (78%), increase in noise levels (76%) and increase in traffic volumes (72%). You can add to these businesses and activities where noise is created and smoke is emitted such as restaurants, maintenance workshops of different kinds etc.

The residents said that the worst commercial activity were the car showrooms (44%) and petrol pumps or CNG stations. Roadside restaurants also scored high on negativity (30%) though there were some variations from one corridor to another. Encroachments on pavements and open spaces mean that pedestrian movement has been severely restricted.

The writer is an urban planner and runs a non-profit organization based in Karachi city focusing on urban sustainability issues. He can be reached at [e-mail]

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2013.