Rocket science it is not

Karachi in dire need of rapid mass transport systems.

Anybody that lives in or visits Karachi can deduce after a few seconds of observation that it is a city in dire need of rapid mass transport systems, was in dire need 20 years ago, and it is rapidly being throttled by private vehicles. There are now around 20 million people in Karachi, many of them with an ambition to own a car even if they do not have one now. The transport infrastructure — flyovers and multilane roads — serve the needs of the personal vehicle and not the mass-transport needs of an expanding city. There is no modern infrastructure that enables mass commuting and commuters have to mainly rely on geriatric buses that should not be on the road, which have become a part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

A look at the numbers that underpins the transport nightmare is cause for concern. The growth in the number of registered vehicles in Karachi between 2002 and 2007 is a staggering 656 per cent, outstripping the growth of the number of people living in the city. By 2020, there will be an estimated seven million households in Karachi owning 4.3 million vehicles. With cars comes pollution, with pollution comes degradation of the environment and a decrease in the quality of public health. Our consumption of petroleum products is growing at an annual rate of six per cent, half of that going into the tanks of the transport sector. There have been stirrings in the debate about the perpetually discussed yet-to-be-revived Karachi Circular Railway. There is further talk of a rapid bus system such as that now running in Lahore to mixed reviews. Talk of removing the encroachments that currently block land either purchased or earmarked for the circular railway have come to nothing. The private car is toxic in Karachi and there is a vital need to stop talking, accept the findings of innumerable studies all of which point to the necessity of a mass-transit system for the city — and get on with building it. Rocket science it is not.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2013.

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