Daily Times

Human civilisation has been changing the Earthsince forever with no heed to its detrimental impacts. Urbanisation, deforestation and dam construction alter water cycles and wind patterns; occasionally triggering droughts, even creating deserts. Since Pakistan’s population growing by over two per cent every year, many Pakistanis are flocking to big cities and towns, way faster than in any other South Asian country. The nature of this urbanisation can best be described as “slumisation” or “ruralisation” of urban life. According to a rough estimate, more than half of Pakistan’s projected 250 million population is expected to live in these slums or shantytowns by 2030.

Pakistan ranks eighth among the ten countries, which collectively hold 60 per cent of its substandard housing across the world. A critical survey of the habitation of Pakistan reveals how large tracts of land have been transformed into uncontainable slums.

Factually, a mere glance at Central Punjab—all the way from Rawalpindi to Multan—reveals nothing but a swell of interconnected shantytowns along highways and subsidiary roads. The serious implications of this menace, include a reduction in total arable areas, scarcity of water, the worst kind of sanitation crises as well as wastage of financial resources )on numerous on-and-off development works executed by governments).

The peculiar bylaws of inheritance and an overwhelming increase in population have converted these mushrooms into two to three rooms of 100 to 125 square yards housing units. Unemployment, poverty, environmental hazards, lack of sanitation and water shortage has further plagued these cabbage-towns. As per an estimate by the State Bank of Pakistan, urban housing is approximately 4.4 million units short of the present demand in all major cities. If the current trends continue, Pakistan’s five largest cities will account for 78 per cent of the total housing shortage by 2035. This process may bring risks of profound social instability along with dangers to critical infrastructure, water table and an ever-looming threat of the spread of diseases.

More than half of Pakistan’s projected 250 million population is expected to live in slums by 2030

According to the Asian Development Bank, approximately 80 per cent of existing water supply schemes in Pakistan carries unsafe drinking water. Slums located in centre and around big cities are mostly devoid of any notable water supply schemes, sewerage and drainage systems. Shared and open latrines are common in these areas. Access to solid waste management services is almost negligible. A rapid increase in all kinds of transport on urban, countryside and rural roads is multiplying severe traffic congestion as well as exacerbating pollution hazards. The infrastructure for most common modes of travel in Pakistan, such as pavements for walking or special lanes for bicycles, either does not exist or has been encroached upon, even in big cities.

The drying up of the three major rivers, according to the Indus Basin Treaty, resulted in massive deforestation in Punjab. Hence, the intensity of air pollution in Punjab’s major cities is three to four times higher than that determined safe by the UN standards. This has also increased the sizes of built-up areas while enhancing the pollution levels in the air. A rise in concrete structures across the landscape is further increasing daily temperatures. Unfortunately, reversing deforestation is a complicated and uphill task.

Outdated land management regulation and building codes, the absence of a unified land record system and patchy data on land usage resulted in poor and inadequate land-controlling and supervision. One consequence is extreme inequality in land distribution for essential public and municipal services. It should be mentioned how there is grave inadequacy of land for graveyards and places of worship in all big cities. Karachi and Lahore have especially seen the development of large real estate housing schemes in the recent past; multiplying traffic congestion along the main highways. These ventures are redefining the urban limits for the worst.

To tackle the problem on a long-term basis, extra attention is essential to convert slums into manageable habitats, absorb the urban poor and help them adjust to their new homes. The government should undertake policies to develop and improve the earning capabilities of both rural and urban poor by facilitating their access to employment, credit, production, marketing opportunities, basic education, health services and vocational training. To combat the growing poverty in an extensive chain of rural areas, the attack must be two-pronged. Those living in squatter tenements should be given better municipal resources. Permanent solutions should be hammered out to deflect the rapid inflow of rural-to-urban migrants with better-earning means in the rural areas.

The expansion of slums in Pakistan—without concomitant economic development and industrialisation—is an unpleasant reality. If this continues, it may choke the municipal and public infrastructure to an unmanageable level. To achieve a balanced spatial distribution of production, employment and population, the government needs to adopt a sustainable development strategy to combat the threat of ‘slumisation’ in Pakistan.

The writer is a retired Pakistan Army officer and can be reached at nawasish30@hotmail.com