ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director for Pakistan Emma Fan has said that Pakistan’s rapid urban population growth is seriously multiplying the urbanisation challenges as by 2030, 40 percent of the country’s population will become urban.
Addressing the formal launch of National Urban Assessment of Pakistan, here on Monday, she said that the pressure on cities mired in ever-increasing deficits of urban infrastructure and services will only intensify, with an urban population that is projected to climb to 99 million, or 40 percent of the country’s total, in 2030.
The National Urban Assessment reveals that urbanisation in Pakistan has concentrated urban populations in the largest urban centres, with provincial capital cities holding a disproportionately large share of the urban population.
Plan urbanisation, optimise development: ADB
This rapid urbanisation in the already heavily-populated cities places extreme pressure on all tiers of government to ensure the provision of basic urban amenities such as water supply, sewerage, transport, housing, health care, and educational services.
In support of efforts to de-concentrate urbanisation, ADB financed the Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement Investment Project (PICIIP) in 2017 to expand networked water supply and sewerage systems; upgrade urban public spaces, including parks, greenbelts, and bus terminals; and strengthen the institutions and capacities for urban service delivery. The ADB also financed the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project (KPCIP) in 2021 to improve the liveability of five cities by (i) expanding physical investments in urban water, sewerage, solid waste disposal, and green infrastructure; and (ii) providing institutional support to improve service delivery and the performance of municipal companies development. Last year, the ADB financed the Developing Resilient Environments and Advancing Municipal Services (DREAMS) project in Punjab to strengthen the climate resilience of water supply networks in Rawalpindi and modernise the waste management systems in Bahawalpur.
The ADB will continue the support for balanced urbanisation through the development of climate-resilient infrastructure to enhance the delivery of high quality integrated municipal services in intermediate cities.
She thanked all participants for joining this knowledge event that may guide actions towards a more sustainable de-concentrated urban growth model in Pakistan.
Many cities are in the Indus River’s fertile lands and the Punjab plains. Due to demographic pressure, cities constantly and unmanageably expand on agricultural land, putting the country’s future food security at risk.
The report said that the unbalanced development becomes evident by comparing the percentage of the urban population living in each province’s largest city as in Sindh, 60 percent of the province’s urban population lives in Karachi, while in Punjab, only 28 percent live in Lahore. The other provinces vary between 24 percent and 34 percent.
The ADB report of urbanisation in Pakistan has suggested following recommendation on urbanisation-related matters in Pakistan: (i) Formulation and execute city master plans with frequent reviews and amendments in response to new developments; (ii) Provide incentives to urban local governments to implement their master plans, including fiscal transfers for implementation, and penalties for failure; (iii) Develop a common and shared database of assets and services between all public agencies at the city level (i.e., development authorities, municipal corporations, water and sanitation agencies);(iv) Conduct national censuses at a regular interval of no more than 10 years.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024