Pakistan's Runaway Urbanization
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Pakistan’s Runaway Urbanization: Pakistan’s What Can Be Done? Pakistan’s Runaway Urbanization: What Can Be Done? Edited by Michael Kugelman Pakistan’s Runaway Urbanization: What Can Be Done? Edited by Michael Kugelman This publication marks a collaborative effort between the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Asia Program and the Fellowship Fund for Pakistan. www.wilsoncenter.org/program/asia-program fffp.org.pk Pakistan’s Runaway Urbanization: What Can Be Done? Essays by Murtaza Haider Nadeem Ul Haque Nadeem Hussain and Atyab Tahir Ahsan Iqbal Michael Kugelman Sania Nishtar, Farrukh Chishtie, and Jawad Chishtie Mohammad A. Qadeer Tasneem Siddiqui Edited by Michael Kugelman © 2014 The Wilson Center www.wilsoncenter.org Available from: Asia Program Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars One Woodrow Wilson Plaza 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20004-3027 www.wilsoncenter.org ISBN: 978-1-938027-39-0 THE WILSON CENTER, chartered by Congress as the official memorial to President Woodrow Wilson, is the nation’s key nonpartisan policy forum for tackling global issues through independent research and open dialogue to inform actionable ideas for Congress, the Administration, and the broader policy community. Conclusions or opinions expressed in Center publications and programs are those of the authors and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center staff, fellows, trustees, advisory groups, or any individuals or organizations that provide financial support to the Center. Please visit us online at www.wilsoncenter.org. Jane Harman, Director, President and CEO BOARD OF TRUSTEES Thomas R. Nides, Chairman of the Board Sander R. Gerber, Vice Chairman Public members: James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress; G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education; David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States; John F. Kerry, Secretary of State; Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services. Designated appointee of the president from within the federal government: Fred P. Hochberg, Chairman and President, Export-Import Bank of the United States Private Citizen Members: Timothy Broas, John T. Casteen III, Charles E. Cobb Jr., Thelma Duggin, Barry S. Jackson, Nathalie Rayes, Jane Watson Stetson WILSON NATIONAL CABINET Ambassador Joseph B. Gildenhorn & Alma Gildenhorn, Co-chairs Eddie & Sylvia Brown, Melva Bucksbaum & Raymond Learsy, Paul & Rose Carter, Armeane & Mary Choksi, Ambassadors Sue & Chuck Cobb, Lester Crown, Thelma Duggin, Judi Flom, Sander R. Gerber, Harman Family Foundation, Susan Hutchison, Frank F. Islam, Willem Kooyker, Linda B. & Tobia G. Mercuro, Dr. Alexander V. Mirtchev, Thomas R. Nides, Nathalie Rayes, Wayne Rogers, B. Francis Saul II, Ginny & L. E. Simmons, Jane Watson Stetson, Leo Zickler Contents Understanding Pakistan’s Unstoppable Urbanization 1 Michael Kugelman Do’s and Don’ts of Urban Policies in Pakistan 21 Mohammad A. Qadeer Frustrated Urbanization and Failed Development 45 in Pakistan Nadeem Ul Haque Pakistan’s Urbanization Challenges: Housing for 66 the Low-Income Tasneem Siddiqui Pakistan’s Urbanization Challenges: Transport 78 and Mobility Murtaza Haider Pakistan’s Urbanization Challenges: Health 107 Sania Nishtar, Farrukh Chishtie, and Jawad Chishtie Urbanization in Pakistan: A Perspective from Government 126 Ahsan Iqbal Financial Inclusion’s Catalytic Role in the Urbanization 135 of Pakistan’s Rural Poor Nadeem Hussain and Atyab Tahir vii Contents Information About Wilson Center Policy Brief Series 140 on Pakistan’s Urbanization Past Asia Program Publications on Pakistan 141 Information About Wilson Center Pakistan 143 Scholar Program viii Understanding Pakistan’s Unstoppable Urbanization MICHAEL KUGELMAN In January 2014, hundreds of people converged on Karachi, Pakistan’s megacity and financial capital, for a three-day conference on South Asian cities. The venue was Frere Hall, a majestic structure dating from the British Raj. The event (which was free and open to all) drew promi- nent academics, government officials, and urban planners from Pakistan, elsewhere in South Asia, and the United States. Prestigious Harvard University was a sponsor. Organizers expressed hope that the event would become the “Davos” of urban planning, and depicted its collab- orative approach as part of a “narrative of peace.”1 Getting such a narrative to resonate, however, will prove no easy task. Over the last few years, hundreds—perhaps thousands—of mili- tants, many of them escaping from military offensives in Pakistan’s tribal regions, have been converging on Karachi. And, unlike visiting conference attendees, they have no intention of leaving town. By 2012, according to some estimates, 8,000 Pakistani Taliban fighters were in Karachi.2 They use the city as a fundraising center through robberies, extortion, and kidnappings. They use it to recruit new fighters. And, increasingly, they use it as a base for attacks. In 2013, terrorist violence in Karachi spiked by 90 percent.3 Not surprisingly, Taliban influence over the city has grown alarm- ingly strong. Just weeks after the South Asian cities conference, the Wall Street Journal published a report warning that “The Pakistani Taliban have tightened their grip over the country’s commercial hub.” According to the Journal, the militant group “controls or dominates” nearly a third Michael Kugelman is the senior program associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. 1 Michael Kugelman of Karachi. Not long after this article appeared, a story in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn asserted that most ethnic Pashtun-populated areas of the city are “under partial or complete influence” of the Pakistani Taliban.4 Of Karachi’s 13 million people, several million are estimated to be Pashtuns. Karachi, like other cities in Pakistan (and beyond), is a study in con- trasts. It is vibrant yet violent, as bustling with commerce and cosmo- politanism as it is besieged by militancy—not to mention poverty. And yet this complicated city also represents the future face of Pakistan. Long a country defined by its countryside, Pakistan is taking on an increas- ingly urban complexion. Pakistan is urbanizing at an annual rate of 3 percent—the fastest pace in South Asia. To get a sense of this rapid-fire growth, consider that Karachi’s population grew 80 percent between 2000 and 2010— the largest increase of any city in the world.5 Presently, about a third of Pakistan’s population is urban-based. By 2025, this figure is expected to be nearly 50 percent. Karachi’s population, 13 million today, will have risen to 19 million by that year. And Lahore’s will have increased from 7 to 10 million. Perhaps most strikingly, the number of Pakistani cities with populations between half a million and a million will have risen from 2 (in 2000) to 11.6 Urbanization is both promising and problematic for Pakistan. On the one hand, it could boost the country’s sagging economy. Pakistani cities are a chief source of employment opportunities—from small and medium enterprises (which provide the vast majority of Pakistan’s non- agricultural jobs) to high-growth industries such as information technol- ogy. Cities are also the home of Pakistan’s most prestigious educational institutions, which include Lahore University of Management Sciences and Karachi’s Institute of Business Administration. These universities are producing talented graduates with highly marketable skills. On the other hand, urbanization will put an immense burden on an already-stressed labor market, and severely test the state’s ability to provide basic services in cities. Even today, Pakistan struggles to provide housing, transport, education, jobs, healthcare, water, and energy to its urban population. Meeting these needs in 10, 15, and 20 years—when the country’s urban population will be even greater—will be an im- mense challenge. Failure to address these privations, at the least, could 2 Understanding Pakistan’s Unstoppable Urbanization make Pakistan’s urban masses—including its rising middle class—less productive contributors to society and the economy. And at worst, it could fuel the fires of radicalization. In November 2013, recognizing the significance of this story, the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Asia Program and the Fellowship Fund for Pakistan hosted an all-day conference on Pakistan’s urbanization. The papers presented at this Washington, DC conference appear in edited form in this volume. Several conference presenters also produced policy briefs on Pakistan’s urbanization. These were published in early 2014, and are available online.7 DRIVERS OF PAKISTAN’S URBANIZATION: MUSHROOMING AND MIGRATING POPULATIONS8 Two chief factors account for Pakistan’s urbanization. One is the natural increase in the general population. Pakistan’s total population is rising by 2 percent every year, and—assuming average fertility rates remain con- stant at over three children per woman—could increase from 180 million people today to 380 million by 2050. The other factor—one present for much of Pakistan’s existence—is rural-to-urban migration. Much of this movement has been driven by war and conflict. At Partition, somewhere between 6 to 8 million Indian Muslims entered Pakistan, and many established roots in urban areas of Sindh and Punjab provinces. Similar influxes occurred during wars with India in 1965 and 1971. And in the 1980s, as the anti-Soviet insurgency raged in Afghanistan, masses of Afghans flowed into western Pakistan,