Karachi needs better town planning to make this sprawling city liveable that presently depicts the picture of heaps of garbage, junk-class public transport, broken streets, overflowing gutters and choked rainstorm drains.
The recent rains once again exposed the bad governance of Sindh rulers and their lack of preparedness, especially in the largest city of Pakistan, Karachi. The government failed to take any advance measures to save the city from urban flooding and it only woke up from its deep slumber when almost all major roads of the city inundated in rainwater and low-lying areas of the city turned into lakes of stagnant water.
The Met office had warned of the heavy rains weeks earlier and the opposition parties in Sindh Assembly had also raised concern that Karachi would be badly hit by the rains, as the rain-water drains were chocked with garbage and narrowed down due to mega encroachments. However, the provincial government and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) did not take any precautionary measures on emergency basis.
The provincial government held a meeting and approved funds for the cleaning of rainwater drains when many areas of Karachi faced an urban flooding like situation after the rains.
Many master plans of this city were made and approved in the past, but never implemented due to corruption and poor governance. The city needs a better town planning and better monitoring of civic project.
The citizens demand early completion of the election process of the local government bodies and smooth transfer of powers to the elected councilors to get the civic problems of the city solved swiftly. They said it needs revamping of the KMC under the elected mayor so as to make it a true urban service delivery institute.