Karachi’s ugly skin

Billboards dotted along sidewalks have become a nuisance for pedestrians

KARACHI:

In most megacities across the world, sidewalks are the domain of pedestrians. But Karachi is not like most megacities; nor are its sidewalks for that matter.

For Karachi's footpaths are the realm of street hawkers, beggars, encroachers, food stalls and seating areas for roadside establishments and advertisement billboards. The latter is the most irksome as these have been allowed by the very authorities that are supposed to safeguard the interests of the citizens.

Take the footpaths at Jauhar Morr, for instance. The sidewalk in front of the Millennium Mall is densely populated by these signboards. As for the pedestrians, well, they must find their way through the mesh of iron poles or walk on the road.



For the residents of Karachi, the purpose of footpaths has been lost. A student of Karachi University, Hina Masood, who has to make her way to the varsity from Jauhar Morr, snubbed that the word 'walk' should be removed from these 'sidewalks'. Her inference was to the fact that these raised platforms on both sides of the road were unfit for walking.

Read: SC orders to remove all billboards from Karachi's footpaths

"These billboards are erected so close together that there is hardly any space to stand between them," she said, pointing towards the dense mass of colourful posters and boards. "A pedestrian would have to risk their limbs to venture between these."

Dangerously drilled

The dilemma does not, by any means, end here. The Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) has not even spared the columns in many of the flyovers across the city. Huge gigantic billboards have been drilled under the columns of Jauhar Morr's flyovers. According to NED University's department of architecture and planning chairperson Prof Dr Noman Ahmed, these are very dangerous for obvious reasons. "There are already plenty of structural flaws in the city's flyovers. In this scenario, any kind of drilling on the horizontal structure of the bridges is not at all desirable," he said, adding that this drilling could cause the collapse of any overhead structure.

Ahmed pointed out that by-laws for outdoor signage and advertisements were drafted after the windy rainfall of 2006, in which many of these billboards had become fatal for citizens. "The purpose of these bylaws was to ensure the compliance of safety rules," he said. Unfortunately, these bylaws were never considered before the placement of billboards across the city.

For example, the rules decree that the size of a mega billboard cannot exceed 60 feet by 90 feet. "But the ones being installed on the rooftops of the city are 110 feet broad. Their skeleton is metal, but the screen is of panaflex, which a heavy wind can easily dislodge and cause to fall," he warned.

Furthermore, the advertisement screens that have sprung up in the city have also created nuisance for drivers. These screens can be found at Hotel Metropol, Sindhi Muslim roundabout and Bahadurabad. The law states that no screens can be placed at any junction or two-way road, as they could cause accidents.

Speaking about the billboards cluttered on footpaths across the city, Ahmed said that most of the city's footpaths were built over drainage lines and were hollow from the inside. They do not have any structural strength, he reasoned. "The slab on which they rest can collapse and they can fall," he said.

Read: Working towards a ‘Hara Bhara Karachi'

Despite repeated attempts to contact him, KMC's director for local tax, Akhtar Shaikh, was unavailable for comments. Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, who has been given the additional charge of Karachi administrator, said that the bylaws for these billboards were designed after very hard work and he has ordered the local tax department to ensure they are not violated.

According to the commissioner, billboards from the footpaths on Karsaz Road have been removed. He has pledged to remove all obstacles from the city's footpaths.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2015.