The Sindh High Court has issued notices to the secretary of local governments, the Karachi Development Authority and others on a plea seeking the enforcement of the notified Karachi Strategic.
The writer is an architect.
KARACHI’S annual GDP is $164 billion. This huge economy, its infrastructure, and relationships are heavily dependent on institutions and facilities that function from encroachments.
Cargo handling and storage; warehousing; wholesale markets; inter- and intra-city bus terminals; workshops and depots; spillover of bazaars and mandis; and the city’s huge street economy are all on encroached land, and there are many markets and government buildings on nullahs and elite societies, like the DHA and the KPT Officers Housing Society, that encroach on the drainage outlets to the sea. Health and education facilities are located on residential plots and so are eating and entertainment facilities of the rich, middle-class, and the poor. There are also residential and commercial buildings built on amenity plots, fully or partly, such as the Icon Tower, which have been purchased by the rich and middle-class families who had little or no knowledge of their illegali