Adil Najam
Speaking at inaugural ceremony of the Bagh Ibne Qasim in Karachi, General Musharraf announced that one of the tallest buildings in the world is planned to be built in Karachi.
How tall, you ask? Well, the word from the top is all of 1947 feet. One assumes that this number is no coincidence. I guess there will be something special on the 14th floor and somehow August will also be commemorated.
According to the Daily Times (Feburary 28, 2007):
One of the tallest buildings of the world will be constructed in Karachi, President Pervez Musharraf told a ceremony in connection with the inauguration of Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim here on Tuesday night. The president referred to a project pertaining to a beach and island’s development, and said this would be a mega project of international standard. He said that land for the project would be reclaimed from the sea and added that the centre of the project would be a 1,947-foot high building. “Inshallah we will make it. We must show the world that this is an emerging, progressive and dynamic country and we are second to none. We know how to handle ourselves. We know what progress and prosperity means and that is what we need to show to everyone,� Musharraf said. The project would not affect the environment, he added.
There has been, of course, much fanfare about the Centaurus 7-star Hotel project in Islamabad, and I remain skeptical about the hyperbole accompanying these projects until I actually see them completed. I will reserve my comments on the trumpeted building itself until I see actual plans and designs for it and until it actually materializes in reality. One has heard of too many such grandiose projects that never transpired to get all excited about them just yet. In this case, the legality and appropriateness of the sale of the island where this is to be built remains in question.
However, I find the logic presented by General Musharraf to be rather confusing, even disturbing. I certainly share his desire to be seen as “an emerging, progressive and dynamic country” that is “second to none.” However, it escapes me how building a huge tower will make as any of the above. Moreover, I have absolutely no idea what he means by “we know how to handle ourselves” or how constructing such a building will demonstrate that we do. Most importantly, I do know that “progress and prosperity” is to be measured by means other than the height of one’s buildings.
I do not wish to sound cynical. I really do not. If this actually happens, and if it is well designed and well executed, I will join with my fellow-Pakistanis in a collective bhangra. But, until then, I remain skeptical mostly because the motivation to build this seems misplaced. There could be many good reasons to build such a grand project. And there are many good ways to achieve the objective of demonstrating that Pakistan is “an emerging, progressive and dynamic country” that is “second to none.” But neither is the best match for the other.
To be fair, I think the other things that Gen. Musharraf said in the speech – which were not reported in the story about the tall building – were more on the mark on how to demonstrate that “we know what progress and prosperity means.” For example, according to The News story on the same event the President did show a deeper understanding of the city’s challenges and priorities:
President Musharraf listed a lack of clean drinking water, the electricity shortage, and a lack of cleanliness as Karachi’s current problems. He said the electricity problem would also be resolved, and that the city had required 2200 megawatts of electricity per year but now with a population of 15 million its power requirement has risen to 3300 megawatts. Karachi’s demand has increased by 50 percent, he added. But he said We will resolve this problem. Referring to the city’s water problem, he said he had provided K-III for 100 mgd water and now he would back up the K-IV water project. President Musharraf said that Karachi city should also be cleaned and for this purpose negotiations were be held with a private firm for a solid waste management project which would resolve the cleanliness problem.
However, the same story also points out that the President “directed environmental experts not to create hurdles in the development of the city” and went on to say:
If we have to make roads for the development of the city and for this if we have to chop the trees, we will do it but then we will also plant more trees.
He was obviously referring to environmental objections to the development of the islands off Karachi. This attitude of seeing environmental concerns as ‘hurdles’ to development does not bode well and is at least two decades outdated in the policy thinking on sustainable development. Having environment and development go together is not only possible; it is absolutely necessary for countries like Pakistan and cities like Karachi. So, President sahab, have your tall building if it pleases you; but, please, do not pit environment versus development in this way. It serves neither the interests of development, nor of the environment, and certainly not of Karachi or of Pakistan.
Pervez, I am not against vertical expansion by itself, in fact, I think it is a more efficient use of land, but the other concerns make this project rather questionable.
If this project is completed properly without doing serious damage to the environment, if they manage to provide all the needed electricity, water and gas, if they make all the necessary arrangements for fire safety and disaster management, and if the place does end up having enough residents or business offices to fill the whole building, then I for one would be willing to support it. But can we really expect all that?
Have any feasibility studies been carried out?
I think we need to speak clearly against this trend of leaders or officials conceiving such grandiose things out of nowhere without thinking them through properly. First they should prepare a feasibility report, make it available to the general public in the interest of transparency (posting on the internet can be helpful), and then announce the plan to go ahead with the project if it indeed makes sense to do so.
I will quote some statistics here to provide some perspective on this proposed ‘development’. According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics the following are some of the pertinent income figures for Urban Sindh for 2004-2005(Karachi being a big part of Urban Sindh):
http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/fbs/statistics/hie s0405/hies0405.html
Urban Sindh
Average Household size: 6 persons
Average Household Income: Rs. 14196 with the top 20% of households averaging Rs. 18800 (80% of households averaging less than Rs. 10,500)
Average monthly expense on Housing: Rs. 2698 (with top 20% of households averaging Rs. 3820 per month)
Given the above eye-opening numbers provided by the government itself, I will ask this questions once again: Where is the “demand” for high end housing and resort-style office/residential towers? An overwhelming majority of urban households earn less than $300 per month to support 6 people. They have the ability to spend a grand total of $100 (on average) on monthly housing expenses! Who will occupy these Towers of Babylon and Bundal Islands of Paradise?
Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Hong Kong have much higher household incomes to create ‘local’ demand while their infra-structure/economy is mature enough to attract foreign residents willing to live and invest in these cities. But even they have problems with over-blown development hype and empty high rises. Can Karachi even compare without a concerted effort to raise the incomes and skills of people? The question of law and order is not even being mentioned.
I have no problem with vertical high-rises and expansion of economic opportunities but again WHO is benefiting from these ill-conceived projects? If the government had announced high-rises with subsidized housing for locals or a way to benefit the local population I would be doing bhangra along with Adil saheb at the completion of these projects. But sadly, we are being led into long term disaster due to short-sighted leaders and pipe dreamers.
Here are few questions that need to be asked and answered in regard to the further development of Karachi:
Should all (horizontal and vertical) expansions of Karachi be halted for the time being and priorities be given to the redevelopment and improvement of the existing infrastructure and services first?
Seeing that the existing services are not adequate, most in this forum seem to be advocating this point of view and that is understandable. However Karachi is a dynamic city with great economic opportunities. Those advocating for the new developments are eyeing the new economic opportunities and that is also understandable.
This is where the role of the urban planners and developers becomes important. Should one be done at the cost of the other? What is more important for the economy of the city and in this case for the country?
Under the present conditions the need to expand the economic opportunities is more important even if for the time being it is done at the cost of the other. Demand will take care of the supply.
Is vertical urban expansion preferable over horizontal? Yes. It requires lesser outlay of the resources upfront.
Should Pakistan and Karachi go vertical to meet its urban needs? Yes.
Zamanov,
I agree with you that the word ‘development’ needs to be defined clearly. I only used it loosely since I could not thing up of another pro.
I was just wondering what are the pros vs cons of building massive buildings as opposed building many smaller ones with equal capacity. Land usage would be one.
Another thing: even if all the investment for the building is being made by a foreign company, it is still not harmless for the economy (even if one forgets all the other issues about its viability for a moment).
Our trade deficit is soaring, and we can not sustain it for long. This means that we need urgent steps to bring our balance of payments within a sustainable range. But while we are selling govt owned businesses to foreign companies through privatization and while other foreign investors are happily investing in such projects and bringing in foreign exchange, our government will be able to put off the necessary reforms and restructuring for a longer period.
Likely result: when the ‘high’ comes to an end as it inevitably will, the crisis will be much worse.