See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295075362 Leases Land and Local Leaders: An analysis of a squatter settlement upgrading programme in Karachi Book · January 1982 CITATIONS READS 3 69 1 author: kioe sheng Yap Cardiff University 36 PUBLICATIONS 280 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Urbanization in Southeast Asia View project All content following this page was uploaded by kioe sheng Yap on 19 February 2016. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Bijdragen tot de Socia Ie Geografie en Planologie nr. 4 Leases, Land and Local Leaders An analysis of a squatter settlement upgrading programme in Karachi Yap Kioe-Sheng VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM Geografisch en Planologisch Instituut VLJ De Boelelaan 1105, Postbus 7161, 1007 Me Amsterdam The series BIJDRAGEN TOT DE SOCIALE GEOGRAFIE EN PLANOLOGIE (Contributions to Human Geography and Urban and Regional Planning) is published by the Institute for Geographical Studies and Urban and Regional Planning of the Free University of Amsterdam. The Institute cannot be held responsible for the contents and opinions expressed in the publications; this responsibility rests solely with the author(s) and/or the listed departmental section(s). Editorial Committee: G.A.de Bruijne J.Buit A.O.Kouwenhoven J.van Weesep J.van Westrhenen Cataloging in Publication Data: Kioe-Sheng, Y ap Leases, Land and Local Leaders: an analysis of a squatter settlement upgrading programme in Karachi/ Yap Kioe-Sheng; (uitg. van het) Geografisch en Planologisch Instituut; (foto's Evert Meijer).- Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit.- Ill., foto's.- (Bijdragen tot de Sociale Geografie en Planologie; nr. 4). Met bibliogr., index. ISBN 90-6631-060-X SISO 955 UDC 911.3 Trefw.: sociale geografie; Pakistan. Copyright @ 1982 Geografisch en Planologisch Instituut, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Copyright CD of all photographs (except on page 122) 1982 by Evert Meijer, Amsterdam. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright owners. Printed in the Netherlands by photo offset. Krips Repro, Meppel, 1982. "It is hoped that DAM would give their fullest attention and time to the primary objective of regularization and improvement of katchi abadis, for which KMC would continue to give them all the assistance". (from a letter by the Administrator of KMC to the teamleader of DAM. Karachi, July 18, 1978) To N. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface 7 PROLOGUE The case of Ittehad Town 11 A THE POLICY 11 1 Autonomous housing: panacea or pitfall 11 1.1 Introduction 11 1.2 The views of John Turner 14 1.3 Limitations to Turners' theory 17 1.4 Marxists' critique 19 1.5 Conclusion 24 2 An improvement policy for katchi abadis 27 2.1 Karachi 27 2.2 An "Improvement Policy for Sub-standard Urban Areas" 30 2.3 An action programme 33 2.4 The Central Planning Team 35 3 Refinement and redefinition of the improvement policy 38 3.1 The end of the Lyari Project 38 3.2 Lessons from Lyari 41 3.3 Standards and lease rates 44 3.4 People's participation 45 3.5 A permanent housing stock for low-income groups 48 INTERLUDE The case of 52 Jhuggies 53 1 A request 53 2 Regularization or relocation ? 57 3 Land ownershi p 60 4 Conclusions 62 B THE KARACHI SLUM IMPROVEMENT PROJECT 63 4 Baldia Township Regularization and Improvement Scheme 63 4.1 Introduction 63 4.2 The historical perspective 65 4.3 A survey of the area 69 4.4 The project proposal 72 4.5 Proposed improvement of Baldia Township 73 4.6 The financial plan 76 4.7 Some initial comments 78 5 Planning of Baldia Township 80 5.1 Concept planning 80 5.2 Community organization 83 5.3 Public objections to the concept plan 85 5.4 Detailed planning 88 5.5 Issuing of leases 91 6 Financing Baldia's improvement 93 6.1 PC I Baldia (part 1) 93 6.2 The lease rate schedule 94 6.3 PC I Baldia (part 2) 98 6.4 PC I Baldia (part 3) 101 INTERLUDE The case of Bhutta Village 103 1 Introduction 103 2 Approval of the budget 104 3 Processing of the bill 107 4 The results of the survey 111 5 Summary and conclusion 114 C AN ANALYSIS 117 7 An assessment of the project 117 7.1 The end of the Karachi Slum Improvement Project 117 7.2 Extenuating circumstances 118 7.3 Irretrievable consequences 123 7.4 Conflicts of interests 126 8 Marxist critique reconsidered 132 8.1 Capital interests and housing policy 132 8.2 Regularized plots as commodity 133 8.3 Land ownership in Karachi 136 8.4 Katchi abadi upgrading and political pressure 140 9 Organizing katchi abadi communities 144 9.1 The need for public participation 144 9.2 Community assisting organization 148 9.3 The soak-pit project and beyond 152 9.4 Summary and conclusions 156 Notes 160 Bibliography 164 Appendix 1 Organizational chart of the Central 167 Planning Team of KMC 167 Appendix 2 List of abbreviations 169 List of Urdu words used 170 List of maps and figures 170 Index 172 PREFACE At the conclusion of the Karachi Slum Improvement Project in June 1979, the weekly 'Pakistan Economist' published an article on achievements and setbacks during more than twelve years (1967 - 1979) of Amsterdam Free University involvement in squatter settlement upgrading in Karachi. The article had been written by Emiel Wegelin, one of the members of the Dutch advisory team for the project, and it was entitled 'Slum Improve­ ment in Karachi: Look Back in Despair'. At that moment some despair was understandable. The four Dutch advisers in the team had endeavoured for two years to implement the plans which had been prepared for the first squatter settlement to be upgraded and legalized under the project. But in June 1979 the Free University and the Government of the Netherlands withdrew the team because of lack of progress in implementation, obviously the result of unwillingness on the part of the Pakistani authorities to execute their policy of squatter settlement upgrading. The despair was mixed with astonishment, however, for at the start of the project all conditions seemed favourable for a smooth execution of the project. For approximately ten years the Amsterdam Free University (during the last five years in collaboration with the University of Karachi in the Joint Research Project IV) had studied the potential of squatter settlement upgrading in Karachi. Eventually it had formulated concrete policy recommendations for the Pakistani authorities, and these recommendations had been adopted by the Karachi r~etropolitan Corporation as basic principles for a policy of squatter settlement upgrading. Subsequently, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme had taken the place of the Free University. Together with the Metropolitan Corporation, UNDP experts formulated the 'Improvement Policy for Sub-standard Urban Areas' and established a separate municipal department for squatter settlement upgrading called the 'Central Planning Team'. After the departure of the UNDP team it had been the assignment of the Dutch advisers (again from the Free University) to advise and assist the Central Planning Team in the execution of the policy. Despite 7 these intensive and long-lasting preparations a systematic execution of the policy proved to be impossible. Therefore, the title of the article in the 'Pakistan Economist' could also have been: 'Slum Improvement in karachi: Look Back in Bewilderment'. This book has been written out of bewilderment. It is an attempt to analyze the Karachi Slum Improvement Project and to suggest causes for the lack of achievements during the two years the project lasted. The book consists of three parts: Part A (The Policy) presents a theoretical discussion on the rationale of squatter settlement upgrading and the criticism of such a policy by (neo-)t1arxists. It also gives a description of the Improvement Policy for Sub­ standard Urban Areas of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. Part B (The Project) deals with the Baldia Township Regularization and Improvement Scheme, the main assignment of the Central Planning Team and the Dutch Advisory Mission during the Karachi Slum Improvement Project. Part C (The Analysis) discusses the obstacles for a prompt execution of the Improvement Policy and an implementation of the Baldia Township Scheme. Suggestions are made to reinforce the role of squatter settlement residents in the planning and implementation of upgrading schemes. Between the three parts, two other assignments of the Central Planning Team and the Dutch advisers are described; namely '52 Jhuggies' and 'Bhutta Village'. These two cases are presented because they provide an illustration of the applicability of the Improvement Policy and the functioning of the Karachi r~etropolitan Corporation, respectively. This book confines itself to the period the Dutch Advisory Mission spent in Karachi, i.e., from June 1977 until June 1979. After the Dutch team had left, some new developments with regard to the Baldia Township Regularization and Improvement Scheme occurred, but these have not been included in the book, mainly because their true impact and background cannot yet be completely grasped. Working in a team inevitably creates a situation which makes it 8 impossible after some time to discern who came with which idea and who put forward which argument. Although many of the ideas in the book came from the Dutch team and from the Pakistani counterpart staff, the contents of the book obviously remain the full responsibility of the author.